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CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE 
UNITED STATES CONSIDERED 
WITH SOME REFERENCE 
TO ITS ORIGINS 


t/if * 


BY 




JOHN FISKE 


Aicrcrofiai, nal Zrjvbt ’EAevOepCov, 

'I p.epav evpvcrdeve’ ap.tf)Ln6\ei, 2wreipa Tv\a* 
r\v yap ev novTip KvPepvwvrat Goal 
vast, ev \epcrtp re Aaujojpoi noAe/xoi 
Kayopat j3ov\a<j)6poi. 


Pindar, Olymp. xii 


Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State! 

Sail on, O Union, strong and great! . . 

Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee. 

Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, 
Our faith triumphant o’er our fears, 

Are all with thee, — are all with thee! 


Longfellow. 



> > > 


BOSTON, NEW YORK, AND CHICAGO 
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
«£be ftitoergibe e?$, Cambridge 








I). 

Tfe'oo 


Copyright 1890, 
By JOHN FISKE. 

All rights reserved. 


D D 

The Riverside Press , Cambridge , Mass., U. S. A. 
Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company. 



SDrttcatton 


This little book is dedicated, with the author’s best wishes and 
sincere regard, to the many hundreds of young friends whom he has 
found it so pleasant to meet in years past, and also to those whom 
he looks forward to meeting in years to come, in studies and read¬ 
ings upon the rich and fruitful history of our beloved country. 




,/ 





PREFACE. 


Some time ago, my friends, Messrs. Houghton, 
Mifflin & Co., requested me to write a small book on 
Civil Government in the United States, which might 
be useful as a text-book, and at the same time service¬ 
able and suggestive to the general reader interested 
in American history. In preparing the book certain 
points have been kept especially in view, and deserve 
some mention here. 

It seemed desirable to adopt a historical method of 
exposition, not simply describing our political insti¬ 
tutions in their present shape, but pointing out their 
origin, indicating some of the processes through which 
they have acquired that present shape, and thus keep¬ 
ing before the student’s mind the fact that govern¬ 
ment is perpetually undergoing modifications in adapt¬ 
ing itself to new conditions. Inasmuch as such gradual 
changes in government do not make themselves, but 
are made by men — and made either for better or for 
worse — it is obvious that the history of political in¬ 
stitutions has serious lessons to teach us. The stu¬ 
dent should as soon as possible come to understand 
that every institution is the outgrowth of experiences. 
One probably gets but little benefit from abstract 
definitions and axioms concerning the rights of men 
and the nature of civil society, such as we often find 



VI 


PREFACE. 


at the beginning of books on government. Meta- 
physical generalizations are well enough in their place, 
but to start with such things — as the French philos¬ 
ophers of the eighteenth century were fond of doing — 
is to get the cart before the horse. It is better to 
have our story first, and thus find out what govern¬ 
ment in its concrete reality has been, and is. Then 
we may finish up with the metaphysics, or do as I 
have done — leave it for somebody else. 

I was advised to avoid the extremely systematic, 
intrusively symmetrical, style of exposition, which is 
sometimes deemed indispensable in a book of this 
sort. It was thought that students would be more 
likely to become interested in the subject if it were 
treated in the same informal manner into which one 
naturally falls in giving lectures to young people. I 
have endeavoured to bear this in mind without sacri¬ 
ficing that lucidity in the arrangement of topics which 
is always the supreme consideration. For many years 
I have been in the habit of lecturing on history to col¬ 
lege students in different parts of the United States, 
to young ladies in private schools, and occasionally to 
the pupils in high and normal schools, and in writing 
this little book I have imagined an audience of these 
earnest and intelligent young friends gathered before 
me. 

I was especially advised — by my friend, Mr. James 
MacAlister, superintendent of schools in Philadelphia, 
for whose judgment I have the highest respect — to 
make it a little book, less than three hundred pages 
in length, if possible. Teachers and pupils do not 
have time enough to deal properly with large treatises. 
Brevity, therefore, is golden. A concise manual is 
the desideratum, touching lightly upon the various 
points, bringing out their relationships distinctly, and 


PREFACE . 


vii 

referring to more elaborate treatises, monographs, and 
documents, for the use of those who wish to pursue 
the study at greater length. 

Within limits thus restricted, it will probably seem 
strange to some that so much space is given to the 
treatment of local institutions, — comprising the gov¬ 
ernments of town, county, and city. It may be ob¬ 
served, by the way, that some persons apparently 
conceive of the state also as a “ local institution.” 
In a recent review of Professor Howard’s admirable 
“ Local Constitutional History of the United States,” 
we read, “ the first volume, which is all that is yet 
published, treats of the development of the township, 
hundred, and shire ; the second volume, we suppose, 
being designed to treat of the State Constitutions.” 
The reviewer forgets that there is such a subject as 
the “ development of the city and local magistracies ” 
(which is to be the subject of that second volume), 
and lets us see that in his apprehension the American 
state is an institution of the same order as the town 
and county. We can thus readily assent when we 
are told that “ many youth have grown to manhood 
with so little appreciation of the political importance 
of the state as to believe it nothing more than a 
geographical division.” 1 In its historic genesis, the 
American state is not an institution of the same order 
as the town and county, nor has it as yet become de¬ 
pressed or “ mediatized ” to that degree. The state, 
while it does not possess such attributes of sovereignty 
as were by our Federal Constitution granted to the 
United States, does, nevertheless, possess many very 
important and essential characteristics of a sovereign 
body, as is here pointed out on pages 172-177. The 
study of our state governments is inextricably wrapped 
1 Young’s Government Class Book, p. iv. 


vni 


PREFACE. 


up with the study of our national government, in such 
wise that both are parts of one subject, which cannot 
be understood unless both parts are studied. Whether 
in the course of our country’s future development we 
shall ever arrive at a stage in which this is not the 
case, must be left for future events to determine. But, 
if we ever do arrive at such a stage, 44 American insti¬ 
tutions ” will present a very different aspect from those 
with which we are now familiar, and which we have 
always been accustomed (even, perhaps, without al¬ 
ways understanding them) to admire. 

The study of local government properly includes 
town, county, and city. To this part of the subject 
X have devoted about half of my limited space, quite 
unheedful of the warning which I find in the preface 
of a certain popular text-book, that 46 to learn the 
duties of town, city, and county officers, has nothing 
whatever to do with the grand and noble subject of 
Civil Government,” and that 44 to attempt class drill 
on petty town and county offices, would be simply 
burlesque of the whole subject.” But, suppose one 
were to say, with an air of ineffable scorn, that petty 
experiments on terrestrial gravitation and radiant 
heat, such as can be made with commonplace pendu¬ 
lums and tea-kettles, have nothing whatever to do with 
the grand and noble subject of Physical Astronomy! 
Science would not have got very far on that plan, I 
fancy. The truth is, that science, while it is perpetu¬ 
ally dealing with questions of magnitude, and knows 
very well what is large and what is small, knows 
nothing whatever of any such distinction as that be¬ 
tween things that are 44 grand ” and things that are 
44 petty.” When we try to study things in a scientific 
spirit, to learn their modes of genesis and their present 
aspects, in order that we may foresee their tendencies, 


PREFACE. 


IX 


and make our volitions count for something in mod¬ 
ifying them, there is nothing which we may safely dis¬ 
regard as trivial. This is true of whatever we can 
study; it is eminently true of the history of institu¬ 
tions. Government is not a royal mystery, to be shut 
off, like old Deiokes, 1 by a sevenfold wall from the 
ordinary business of life. Questions of civil govern¬ 
ment are practical business questions, the principles 
of which are as often and as forcibly illustrated in a 
city council or a county board of supervisors, as in the 
House of Representatives at Washington. It is partly 
because too many of our citizens fail to realize that 
local government is a worthy study, that we find it 
making so much trouble for us. The “ bummers ” 
and “ boodlers ” do not find the subject beneath their 
notice; the Master who inspires them is wide awake 
and — for a creature that divides the hoof — ex¬ 
tremely intelligent. 

It is, moreover, the mental training gained through 
contact with local government that enables the people 
of a community to conduct successfully, through their 
representatives, the government of the state and the 
nation. And so it makes a great deal of difference 
whether the government of a town or county is of one 
sort or another. If the average character of our local 
governments for the past quarter of a century had 
been quite as high as that of the Boston town-meeting 
or the Virginia boards of county magistrates, in the 
days of Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry, who can 
doubt that many an airy demagogue, who, through 
session after session, has played his pranks at the nar 
tional capital, would long ago have been abruptly re¬ 
called to his native heath, a sadder if not a wiser man? 
We cannot expect the nature of the aggregate to be 

1 Herodotus, i. 98. 


X 


PREFACE. 


much better than the average natures of its units. 
One may hear people gravely discussing the difference 
between Frenchmen and Englishmen in political effi¬ 
ciency, and resorting to assumed ethnological causes 
to explain it, when, very likely, to save their lives 
they could not describe the difference between a 
French commune and an English parish. To com¬ 
prehend the interesting contrasts between Gambetta 
in the Chamber of Deputies, and Gladstone in the 
House of Commons, one should begin with a historical 
inquiry into the causes, operating through forty gen¬ 
erations, which have frittered away self-government 
in the rural districts and small towns of France, until 
there is very little left. If things in America ever 
come to such a pass that the city council of Cambridge 
must ask Congress each year how much money it can 
be allowed to spend for municipal purposes, while the 
mayor of Cambridge holds his office subject to re¬ 
moval by the President of the United States, we may 
safely predict further extensive changes in the char¬ 
acter of the American people and their government. 
It was not for nothing that our profoundest political 
thinker, Thomas Jefferson, attached so much impor¬ 
tance to the study of the township. 

In determining the order of exposition, I have 
placed local government first, beginning with the 
township as the simplest unit. It is well to try to 
understand what is near and simple, before dealing 
with what is remote and complex. In teaching geog¬ 
raphy with maps, it is wise to get the pupil interested 
in the streets of his own town, the country roads run¬ 
ning out of it, and the neighbouring hills and streams, 
before burdening his attention with the topographical 
details of Borrioboola Gha. To study grand generali¬ 
zations about government, before attending to such of 


PREFACE. 


xi 


its features as come most directly before us, is to run 
the risk of achieving a result like that attained by the 
New Hampshire school-boy, who had studied geology 
in a text-book, but was not aware that he had ever 
set eyes upon an igneous rock. 

After the township, naturally comes the county. 
The city, as is here shown, is not simply a larger town, 
but is much more complex in organization. His¬ 
torically, many cities have been, or still are, equiva¬ 
lent to counties; and the development of the county 
must be studied before we can understand that of the 
city. It has been briefly indicated how these forms of 
local government grew up in England, and how they 
have become variously modified in adapting them¬ 
selves to different social conditions in different parts 
of the United States. 

Next in order come the general governments, those 
which possess and exert, in one way or another, attri¬ 
butes of sovereignty. First, the various colonial gov¬ 
ernments have been considered, and some features of 
their metamorphosis into our modern state govern¬ 
ments have been described. In the course of this 
study, our attention is called to the most original and 
striking feature of the development of civil govern¬ 
ment upon American soil, — the written constitution, 
with the accompanying power of the courts in certain 
cases to annul the acts of the legislature. This is not 
only the most original feature of our government, but 
it is in some respects the most important. Without 
the Supreme Court, it is not likely that the Federal 
Union could have been held together, since Congress 
has now and then passed an act which the people in 
some of the states have regarded as unconstitutional 
and tyrannical; and in the absence of a judicial 
method of settling such questions, the only available 


xn 


PREFACE. 


remedy would have been nullification. I have de¬ 
voted a brief chapter to the origin and development 
of written constitutions, and tbe connection of our 
colonial charters therewith. 

Lastly, we come to the completed structure, the 
Federal Union ; and by this time we have examined 
so many points in the general theory of American 
government, that our Federal Constitution can be 
more concisely described, and (I believe) more 
quickly understood, than if we had made it the sub¬ 
ject of the first chapter instead of the last. In con¬ 
clusion, there have been added a few brief hints and 
suggestions with reference to our political history. 
These remarks have been intentionally limited. It is 
no part of the purpose of this book to give an account 
of the doings of political parties under the Constitu¬ 
tion. But its study may fitly be supplemented by 
that of Professor Alexander Johnston’s 44 History of 
American Politics.” 

This arrangement not only proceeds from the sim¬ 
pler forms of government to the more complex, but 
it follows the historical order of development. From 
time immemorial, and down into the lowest strata of 
savagery that have come within our ken, there have 
been clans and tribes; and, as is here shown, a town¬ 
ship was originally a stationary clan, and a county 
was originally a stationary *tribe. There were town¬ 
ships and counties (or equivalent forms of organiza¬ 
tion) before there were cities. In like manner there 
were townships, counties, and cities long before there 
was anything in the world that could properly be 
called a state. I have remarked below upon the way 
in which English shires coalesced into little states, 
and in course of time the English nation was formed 
by the union of such little states, which lost their 


PREFACE. 


xm 


statehood (i. e., their functions of sovereignty, though 
not their self-government within certain limits) in the 
process. Finally, in America, we see an enormous 
nationality formed by the federation of states which 
partially retain their statehood; and some of these 
states are themselves of national dimensions, as, for 
example, New York, which is nearly equal in area, 
quite equal in population, and far superior in wealth, 
to Shakespeare’s England, 

In studying the local institutions of our different 
states, I have been greatly helped by the “Johns 
Hopkins University Studies in History and Politics,” 
of which the eighth annual series is now in course of 
publication. In the course of the pages below I have 
frequent occasion to acknowledge my indebtedness to 
these learned and sometimes profoundly suggestive 
monographs; but I cannot leave the subject without 
a special word of gratitude to my friend, Dr. Herbert 
Adams, the editor of the series, for the noble work 
which he is doing in promoting the study of American 
history. 

It had always seemed to me that the mere existence 
of printed questions in text-books proves that the pub¬ 
lishers must have rather a poor opinion of the aver¬ 
age intelligence of teachers; and it also seemed as if 
the practical effect of such questions must often be 
to make the exercise of recitation more mechanical 
for both teachers and pupils, and to encourage the 
besetting sin of “ learning by heart.” Nevertheless, 
there are usually two sides to a case; and, in deference 
to the prevailing custom, for which, no doubt, there 
is much to be said, full sets of questions have been 
appended to each chapter and section. It seemed de¬ 
sirable that such questions should be prepared by 
some one especially familiar with the use of school- 


xiv 


PREFACE. 


books; and for these I have to thank Mr. F. A. Hill, 
Head Master of the Cambridge English High School. 
I confess that Mr. Hill’s questions have considerably 
modified my opinion as to the merits of such apparar 
tus. They seem to add very materially to the useful¬ 
ness of the book. 

It will be observed that there are two sets of these 
questions, entirely distinct in character and purpose. 
The first set — “ Questions on the Text ” — is ap¬ 
pended to. each section , so as to be as near the text 
as possible. These questions furnish an excellent top¬ 
ical analysis of the text. 1 In a certain sense they ask 
“ what the book says,” but the teacher is advised em¬ 
phatically to discourage any such thing as committing 
the text to memory. The tendency to rote-learning 
is very strong. I had to contend with it in teaching 
history to seniors at Harvard twenty years ago, but 
much has since been done to check it through the de¬ 
velopment of the modern German seminary methods. 
(For an explanation of these methods, see Dr. Herbert 
Adams on “ Seminary Libraries and University Ex¬ 
tension,” J. H. U. Studies , Y., xi.) With younger 
students the tendency is of course stronger. It is 
only through much exercise that the mind learns 
how to let itself — as Matthew Arnold used to say — 
“ play freely about the facts.” 

In order to supply the pupil with some wholesome 
exercise of this sort, Mr. Hill has added, at the end 
of each chapter , a set of “ Suggestive Questions and 
Directions.” Here he has thoroughly divined the 
purpose of the book and done much to further it. 

1 ‘ This,” says Mr. Hill, “ will please those who prefer the topical 
method, while it does not forbid the easy transformation of topics to 
questions, which others may demand.” 

In the table of contents I have made a pretty full topical analysis 
of the book, which may prove useful for comparison with Mr. Hill’s. 


PREFACE. 


xy 


Problems or cases are suggested for the student to 
consider, and questions are asked which cannot be 
disposed of by a direct appeal to the text. Some¬ 
times the questions go quite outside of the text, and 
relate to topics concerning which it provides no in¬ 
formation whatever. This has been done with a pur¬ 
pose. The pupil should learn how to go outside of 
the book and gather from scattered sources informa¬ 
tion concerning questions that the book suggests. In 
other words, he should begin to learn how to make 
researches , for that is coming to be one of the useful 
arts, not merely for scholars, but for men and women 
in many sorts of avocations. It is always useful, as 
well as ennobling, to be able to trace knowledge to its 
sources. Work of this sort involves more or less con¬ 
ference and discussion among classmates, and calls for 
active aid from the teacher; and if the teacher does 
not at first feel at home in these methods, practice 
will nevertheless bring familiarity, and will prove 
most wholesome training. For the aid of teachers 
and pupils, as well as of the general reader who wishes 
to pursue the subject, I have added a bibliographical 
note at the end of each chapter, immediately after 
Mr. Hill’s “ Suggestive Questions and Directions.” 

This particular purpose in my book must be care¬ 
fully borne in mind. It explains the omission of 
many details which some text-books on the same sub¬ 
ject would be sure to include. To make a manual 
complete and self-sufficing is precisely what I have 
not intended. The book is designed to be suggestive 
and stimulating, to leave the reader with scant in¬ 
formation on some points, to make him (as Mr. Samuel 
Weller says) “ vish there wos more,” and to show him 
how to go on by himself. I am well aware that, in 
making an experiment in this somewhat new direction, 


XVI 


PREFACE. 


nothing is easier than to fall into errors of judgment. 
I can hardly suppose that this book is free from such 
errors; but if in spite thereof it shall turn out to be 
in any way helpful in bringing the knowledge and 
use of the German seminary method into our higher 
schools, I shall be more than satisfied. 

Just here, let me say to young people in all parts 
of our country: — If you have not already done 
so, it would be well worth while for you to organize a 
debating society in your town or village, for the dis¬ 
cussion of such historical and practical questions re¬ 
lating to the government of the United States as are 
suggested in the course of this book. Once started, 
there need be no end of interesting and profitable 
subjects for discussion. As a further guide to the 
books you need in studying such subjects, use Mr. 
W. E. Foster’s “ References to the Constitution of 
the United States,” the invaluable pamphlet men¬ 
tioned below on page 277. If you cannot afford to 
buy the books, get the public library of your town or 
village to buy them; or, perhaps, organize a small 
special library for your society or club. Librarians 
will naturally feel interested in such a matter, and 
will often be able to help with advice. A few hours 
every week spent in such wholesome studies cannot 
fail to do much toward the political education of the 
local community, and thus toward the general im¬ 
provement of the American people. For the ameli¬ 
oration of things will doubtless continue to be ef¬ 
fected in the future, as it has been effected in the 
past, not by ambitious schemes of sudden and uni¬ 
versal reform (which the sagacious man always sus¬ 
pects, just as he suspects all schemes for returning a 
fabulously large interest upon investments), but by 
the gradual and cumulative efforts of innumerable in- 


PREFACE. 


XVII 


dividuals, each doing something to help or instruct 
those to whom his influence extends. He who makes 
two clear ideas grow where there was only one hazy 
one before, is the true benefactor of his species. 

In conclusion, I must express my sincere thanks to 
Mr. Thomas Emerson, superintendent of schools in 
Newton, for the very kind interest he has shown in 
my work, in discussing its plan with me at the outset, 
in reading the completed manuscript, and in offering 
valuable criticisms. 

Cambridge, August 5, 1890. 


PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. 

In the present revision such errors as are incident 
to first editions have been carefully eliminated, and 
such changes have been made as have seemed de¬ 
sirable in order to keep the book abreast with the 
times. 

JOHN FISKE. 

Cambridge, January 20, 1898. 






CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER I. 


TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT. 

Page 

“ Too much taxes ”.i, 

What is taxation ?. 

Taxation and eminent domain ...... 

What is government ?. 

The “ ship of state ”. 

“ The government ”. 

Whatever else it may be, “ the government ” is the power 

which imposes taxes. 

Difference between taxation and robbery .... 

Sometimes taxation is robbery. 

The study of history is full of practical lessons, and helpful 
to those who would be good citizens . . . 9, 10 

Perpetual vigilance is the price of liberty ... 11 

Questions on the Text. 11,12 

Suggestive Questions and Directions . . 12-14 

Bibliographical Note. 14,15 


CHAPTER II. 

THE TOWNSHIP. 

§ 1. The New England Township. 

The most ancient and simple form of government . . 16 

New England settled by church congregations . . 16, 17 

Policy of the early Massachusetts government as to land 
grants.. 0 17 


cOOQ~q CJCrOti^WtC 



CONTENTS . 


Smallness of the farms ....... 18 

Township and village.. . 18 

Social position of the settlers.19 

The town-meeting.19 

Selectmen j town-clerk.20 

Town-treasurer ; constables ; assessors of taxes and over¬ 
seers of the poor ........ 21 

Act of 1647 establishing public schools . . . .22 

School committees ........ 22, 23 

Field-drivers and pound-keepers ; fence-viewers; other 

town officers.23, 24 

Calling the town-meeting.24 

Town, county, and state taxes.25 

Poll-tax.25 

Taxes on real-estate ; taxes on personal property . . 26 

When and where taxes are assessed .... 26, 27 

Tax-lists.27 

Cheating the government.28 

The rate of taxation ........ 28 

Undervaluation; the burden of taxation .... 29 

The “ magic-fund ” delusion ...... 30 

Educational value of the town-meeting .... 31 

By-laws.31 

Power and responsibility.32 

There is nothing especially American, democratic, or meri¬ 
torious about “ rotation in office ”.32 

Questions on the Text.32-34 


§ 2. Origin of the Township. 

Town-meetings in ancient Greece and Rome . . .34 

Clans; the mark and the tun .35 

The Old-English township, the manor, and the parish 36, 37 
The vestry-meeting ........ 37 

Parish and vestry clerks; beadles, waywardens, hay wards, 

common-drivers, churchwardens, etc.38 

Transition from the English parish to the New England 

township.38, 39 

Building of states out of smaller political units . . 39 

Representation; shire-motes; Earl Simon’s Parliament . 46 

The township as the (i unit of representation ” in the shire- 

mote and in the General Court. 41 

Contrast with the Russian village-community which is not 
represented in the general government . . . .42 








CONTENTS . 


xxi 


Questions on the Text.43 

Suggestive Questions and Directions . . 43-46 

Bibliographical Note.46, 47 

CHAPTER III. 

THE COUNTY. 

§ 1. The County in its Beginnings . 

Why do we have counties ?.48 

Clans and tribes.49 

The English nation, like the American, grew out of the 

union of small states.49, 50 

Ealdorman and sheriff; shire-mote and county court 50, 51 
The coroner, or “ crown officer ”..... 51, 52 

Justices of the peace; the Quarter Sessions; the lord lieu¬ 
tenant .......... 52 

Decline of the English county ; beginnings of counties in 

Massachusetts.53 

Questions on the Text.54 

§ 2. The Modern County in Massachusetts. 

County commissioners, etc.; shire-towns and court-houses 55 
Justices of the peace, and trial justices .... 55, 56 

The sheriff.56 

Questions on the Text.57 

§ 3. The Old Virginia County. 

Virginia sparsely settled ; extensive land grants to individ¬ 
uals .57,58 

Navigable rivers ; absence of towns ; slavery ... 58 

Social position of the settlers ...... 59 

Virginia parishes ; the vestry was a close corporation 59, 60 

Powers of the vestry.60 

The county was the unit of representation . . . .61 

The county court was virtually a close corporation . . 61, 62 

The county-seat, or Court House.62 

Powers of the court; the sheriff.63 

The county-lieutenant 64 

Contrast between old Virginia and old New England, in re¬ 
spect of local government ...... 64, 65 





XXII 


CONTENTS. 


Jefferson’s opinion of township government . . .65 

“ Court-day ” in old Virginia ...... 65, 66 

Virginia has been prolific in great leaders . . . 66, 67 

Questions on the Text .67, 68 

Suggestive Questions and Directions . . 68-70 

Bibliographical Note. 70 


CHAPTER IV. 



TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY. 



§ 1. Various Local Systems. 



Parishes in South Carolina. 

• • 

71 

The back country ; the “ regulators ” 

• • 

72 

The district system. 

. 72, 

73 

The modern South Carolina county . 

. 73, 

74 

The counties are too large ! 

. 

74 


Tendency of the school district to develop into something 
like a township ........ 74 

Local institutions in colonial Maryland ; the hundred . .75 

Clans ; brotherhoods, or phratries ; and tribes . . 75 

Origin of the hundred ; the hundred court; the high con¬ 
stable .76 

Decay of the hundred ; hundred-meeting in Maryland . 77 

The hundred in Delaware ; the levy court, or representa¬ 
tive county assembly ....... 78 

The old Pennsylvania county.78 

Town-meetings in New York ...... 79 

The county board of supervisors.79, 80 

Questions on the Text .80 

§ 2. Settlement of the Public Domain. 

Westward movement of population along parallels of lati¬ 


tude .81 

Method of surveying the public lands . . . 81-83 

Origin of townships in the West.83 

Formation of counties in the West .... 84, 85 

Some effects of this system ...... 85 

The reservation of a section for public schools . . .86 

In this reservation there were the germs of township gov¬ 
ernment .......... 87 





CONTENTS. 


xxm 


But at first the county system prevailed . . = 87, 88 

Questions on the Text . . , . . 88 * 

§ 3. The Representative Township-County System in the West. 

The town-meeting in Michigan.89 

Conflict between township and county systems in Illinois 89, 90 

Effects of the Ordinance of 1787 90 

Intense vitality of the township system . . . .91 

County option and township option in Missouri, Nebraska, 

Minnesota, and Dakota.91, 92 

Grades of township government in the West . . .92 

An excellent result of the absence of centralization in the 

United States.93 

Effect of the self-governing school district in the South, in 
preparing the way for the self-governing township . . 94 

Woman-suffrage in the school district . . . . 94, 95 

Questions on the Text .95, 96 

Suggestive Questions and Directions . . 96-98 

Bibliographical Note .98 


CHAPTER V. 

THE city. 

§ 1. Direct and Indirect Government. 

Summary of the foregoing results ; township government 
is direct, county government is indirect ... 99 

Representative government is necessitated in a county by 
the extent of territory, and in a city by the multitude of 
people ......... 100, 101 

Josiah Quincy’s account of the Boston town-meeting in 

1830 . 101, 102 

Distinctions between towns and cities in America and in 


England.102,103 

Questions on the Text .104 

§ 2. Origin of English Boroughs and Cities. 

Origin of the chesters and casters in Roman camps . . 104 

Coalescence of towns into fortified boroughs . . 104, 105 

The borough as a hundred ; it acquires a court . . . 105 

The borough as a county ; it acquires" a sheriff . 105,106 



XXIV 


CONTENTS. 


Government of London under Henry 1.106 

The guilds ; the town guild, and Guild Hall . . 106, 107 

Government of London as perfected in the thirteenth cen¬ 
tury ; mayor, aldermen, and common council . . 107, 108 

The city of London, and the metropolitan district . . 108 

English cities were for a long time the bulwarks of liberty 109 
Simon de Montfort and the cities . . . . .110 

Oligarchical abuses in English cities, beginning with the 
Tudor period ........ 110 

The Municipal Reform Act of 1835 . . . . .111 

Government of the city of New York before the Revolu¬ 
tion .Ill, 112 

Changes after the Revolution ..... 112, 113 

City government in Philadelphia in the eighteenth cen¬ 
tury ......... 113, 114 

The very tradition of good government was lacking in these 

cities.114 

Questions on the Text .... 114-116 

§ 3. The Government of Cities in the United States. 

Several features of our municipal governments . . 116, 117 

In many cases they do not seem to work well . . 117, 118 

Rapid growth of American cities . . . . .119 

Some consequences of this rapid growth .... 120 

Wastefulness resulting from want of foresight . . . 121 

Growth in complexity of government in cities . . 121, 122 

Illustrated by list of municipal officers in Boston . 122, 123 
How city government comes to be a mystery to the citizens, 
in some respects harder to understand than state and 
national government ....... 124 

Dread of the “ one-man power ” has in many cases led to 
scattering and weakening of responsibility . . . 125 

Committees inefficient for executive purposes ; the il Cir¬ 
cumlocution Office ”.126 

Alarming increase of city debts, and various attempts to 

remedy the evil.127 

Experience of New York with state interference in muni¬ 
cipal affairs ; unsatisfactory results . . . 127-129 

The Tweed Ring in New York ...... 129 

The present is a period of experiments . . - .130 

The new government of Brooklyn .... 130-132 

Necessity of separating municipal from national politics . 132 




CONTENTS. 


XXV 


Notion that the suffrage ought to be restricted ; evils 

wrought by ignorant voters.133 

Evils wrought by wealthy speculators ; testimony of the 
Pennsylvania Municipal Commission . . . 134 

Dangers of a restricted suffrage ..... 134, 135 

Baneful effects of mixing city politics with national poli¬ 
tics ......... 135, 136 

The “ spoils system ” must be destroyed, root and branch ; 
ballot reform also indispensable ..... 136 

Questions on the Text .... 136-138 

Suggestive Questions and Directions . 138,139 
Bibliographical Note .139 


CHAPTER VI. 


THE STATE. 


§ 1. The Colonial Governments. 

Claims of Spain to the possession of North America . . 140 

Claims of France and England .... 140, 141 

The London and Plymouth Companies .... 141 

Their common charter ....... 142 

Dissolution of the two companies ..... 143 

States formed in the three zones .... 143-145 

Formation of representative governments ; House of Bur¬ 
gesses in Virginia ....... 145, 146 

Company of Massachusetts Bay ..... 146 

Transfer of the charter from England to Massachusetts 
The General Court ; assistants and deputies . . 147, 

Virtual independence of Massachusetts, and quarrels with 
the Crown ......... 


147 

148 

148 


New charter of Massachusetts in 1692 ; its liberties cur¬ 
tailed .149 

Republican governments in Connecticut and Rhode Island 149 
Counties palatine in England ; proprietary charter of Mary¬ 
land .150, 151 

Proprietary charter of Pennsylvania . . . . .152 

Quarrels between Penns and Calverts ; Mason and Dixon’s 
line 152 

Other proprietary governments ..... 152, 153 
They generally became unpopular . . . . . 153 



XXVI 


CONTENTS . 


At the time of the Revolution there were three forms of co¬ 
lonial government: 1. Republican ; 2. Proprietary ; 3. 

Royal.154 

(After 1692 the government of Massachusetts might be de¬ 
scribed as Semi-royal).154 

In all three forms there was a representative assembly, 
which alone could impose taxes .... 154, 155 

The governor’s council was a kind of upper house . . 155 

The colonial government was much like the English system 
in miniature ......... 155 

The Americans never admitted the supremacy of parlia¬ 
ment .156 

Except in the regulation of maritime commerce . . . 157 

In England there grew up the theory of the imperial su¬ 
premacy of parliament.157 

And the conflict between the British and American theories 
was precipitated by becoming involved in the political 
schemes of George III. ....... 158 

Questions on the Text .... 159,160 

§ 2. The Transition from Colonial to State Governments. 

Dissolution of assemblies and parliaments .... 161 
Committees of correspondence ; provincial congresses . 162 

Provisional governments ; “governors ” and “presidents ” 163 

Origin of the senates.164 

Likenesses and differences between British and American 

systems.165 

Questions' on the Text .165,166 

§ 3. The State Governments. 

Later modifications.166 

Universal suffrage ........ 167 

Separation between legislative and executive departments ; 
its advantages and disadvantages as compared with the 

European plan.168, 169 

In our system the independence of the executive is of vital 
importance ......... 169 

The state executive.169 

The governor’s functions : 1. Adviser of legislature ; 2. 
Commander of state militia; 3. Royal prerogative of 

pardon ; 4. Veto power.170, 171 

Importance of the veto power as a safeguard against cor¬ 
ruption . 171 










CONTENTS. 


xxvii 

In building the state, the local self-government was left un¬ 
impaired . .... 172 

Instructive contrast with France.173 

Some causes of French political incapacity . . . .174 

Yastness of the functions retained by the states in the Amer¬ 
ican Union.175, 176 

Illustration from recent English history . . . 176, 177 

Independence of the state courts ..... 177 

Constitution of the state courts.178 

Elective and appointive judges.179 

Questions on the Text .180,181 

Suggestive Questions and Directions . 181-185 

Bibliographical Note .185,186 

CHAPTER VII. 
written constitutions. 

In the American state there is a power above the legis¬ 
lature .187 

Germs of the idea of a written constitution .... 188 
Development of the idea of contract in Roman law ; medi¬ 
aeval charters.188 

The “Great Charter” (1215).189 

The Bill of Rights (1689). 190 

Foreshadowing of the American idea by Sir Harry Vane 

(1656). . 191 

The Mayflower compact (1620) ..... 192 

The “ Fundamental Orders ” of Connecticut (1639) . 192, 193 

Germinal development of the colonial charter toward the 

modern state constitution.193 

Abnormal development of some recent state constitutions, 
encroaching upon the legislature ..... 194 

The process of amending constitutions .... 195 

The Swiss “ Referendum 196 

Questions on the Text .196-198 

Suggestive Questions and Directions . 198,199 

Bibliographical Note ...... 200 






XXVL11 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

THE FEDERAL UNION. 

§ 1. Origin of the Federal Union. 

Circumstances favourable to the union of the colonies . 201 

The New England Confederacy (1643-84) .... 202 
Albany Congress (1754) ; Stamp Act Congress (1765) ; 
Committees of Correspondence (1772-75) . . . 203 

The Continental Congress (1774-89). 204 

The several states were never at any time sovereign states 205 
The Articles of Confederation ...... 205 

Nature and powers of the Continental Congress . . 206, 207 

It could not impose taxes, and therefore was not fully en¬ 
dowed with sovereignty.207 

Decline of the Continental Congress ..... 208 
Weakness of the sentiment of union ; anarchical tenden¬ 
cies .. 208, 209 

The Federal Convention (1787). 209-211 

Questions on the Text .... 211, 212 

§ 2. The Federal Congress. 

The House of Representatives 
The three fifths compromise .... 

The Connecticut compromise 
The Senate ....... 

Electoral districts ; the “ Gerrymander ” 

The election at large. 

Time of assembling . 

Privileges of members ..... 

The Speaker. 

Impeachment in England ; in the United States 
The president’s veto power .... 

Questions on the Text 

§ 3. The Federal Executive. 

The title of “ President 224 

The electoral college. 225, 226 

The twelfth amendment ....... 227 

The electoral commission (1877) .... 228 

Provisions against a lapse of the presidency . . 228, 229 


212-214 
. 213 

. 214 
. 215 

216, 217 
. 218 
. 219 
. 220 
. 220 
. 221 
. 222 
223, 224 




CONTENTS. 


XXIX 


Original purpose of the electoral college not fulfilled . . 229 

Electors formerly chosen in many states by districts ; now 

always on a general ticket.230 

“ Minority presidents ”. 230, 231 

Advantages of the electoral system ..... 231 
Nomination of candidates by congressional caucus (1800-24) 232 
Nominating conventions ; the “ primary ” ; the district con¬ 
vention ; the national convention ..... 233 

Qualifications for the presidency ; the term of office . . 234 

Powers and duties of the president .... 234, 235 

The president’s message.235 

Executive departments ; the cabinet .... 236 

The secretary of state.237 

Diplomatic and consular service.238 

The secretary of the treasury.239 

The other departments ....... 240 

Questions on the Text . 240-243 


§ 4. The Nation and the States. 

Difference between confederation and federal union . 243 

Powers granted to Congress ...... 244 

The “ Elastic Clause ”.245 

Powers denied to the states ...... 245 

Evils of an inconvertible paper currency . . . 245, 246 

Powers denied to Congress ....... 247 

Bills of attainder ........ 247 

Intercitizenship ; mode of making amendments . . • 248 

Questions on the Text .... 249,250 

§ 5. The Federal Judiciary. 

Need for a federal judiciary ...... 250 

Federal courts and judges ..... 250, 251 

District attorneys and marshals.251 

The federal jurisdiction. 251, 252 


Questions on the Text ...... 252 

§ 6. Territorial Government. 

The Northwest Territory and the Ordinance of 1787 . 253 

Other territories and their government .... 254 
Questions on the Text .254 


CONTENTS. 


§ 7. Ratification and Amendments. 

Provisions for ratification.253 

Concessions to slavery.255 

Demand for a bill of rights.256 

The first ten amendments.256 

Questions on the Text .257 

§ 8. A Few Words about Politics . 

Federal taxation.257 

Hamilton’s policy ; excise ; tariff .... 258, 259 
Origin of American political parties ; strict and loose con¬ 
struction of the Elastic Clause.259 

Tariff, Internal Improvements, and National Bank . . 260 

Civil Service reform.261 

Origin of the “ spoils system ” in the state politics of New 

York and Pennsylvania.262 

“ Rotation in office ; ” the Crawford Act.... 262 

How the “ spoils system ” was made national . . . 263 

The Civil Service Act of 1883 ...... 264 

The Australian ballot.265 

The English system of accounting for election expenses . 266 

Questions on the Text . 267, 268 

Suggestive Questions and Directions . 269-271 

Bibliographical Note ..... 272-277 


APPENDIX. 


A. The Articles of Confederation.279 

B. The Constitution of the United States . . . 287 

C. Magna Charta.308 

D. Part of the Bill of Rights, 1689 .... 325 

E. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut . . . 329 

F. The States classified according to origin . . . 335 

G. Table of states and territories.336 

H. Population of the United States 1790-1880, with per¬ 

centages of urban population .... 337 

I. An Examination Paper for Customs Clerks . . 337 

J. The New York Corrupt Practices Act of 1890 . . 342 

K. Specimen of an Australian ballot .... 347 

Index .353 




CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES, 
CONSIDERED WITH SOME REFER¬ 
ENCE TO ITS ORIGINS. 


CHAPTER I. 

TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT. 

In that strangely beautiful story, “The Cloister 
and the Hearth,” in which Charles Reade has drawn 
such a vivid picture of human life at the close of the 
Middle Ages, there is a good description of the siege 
of a revolted town by the army of the Duke of Bur* 
gundy. . Arrows whiz, catapults hurl their ponderous 
stones, wooden towers are built, secret mines are ex¬ 
ploded. The sturdy citizens, led by a tall knight who 
seems to bear a charmed life, baffle every device of 
the besiegers. At length the citizens capture the 
brother of the duke’s general, and the besiegers cap¬ 
ture the tall knight, who turns out to be no knight 
after all, but just a plebeian hosier. The duke’s gen¬ 
eral is on the point of ordering the tradesman who 
has made so much trouble to be shot, but the latter 
still remains master of the situation; for, as he dryly 
observes, if any harm comes to him, the enraged citi¬ 
zens will hang the general’s brother. Some parley 
ensues, in which the shrewd hosier promises for the 
townsfolk to set free their prisoner and pay a round 



2 


TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT. 


sum of money if the besieging army will depart and 
leave them in peace. The offer is accepted, and so 
the matter is amicably settled. As the worthy citizen 
is about to take his leave, the general ventures a word 
of inquiry as to the cause of the town’s revolt. “ What, 
then, is your grievance, my good friend ? ” Our ho- 
-Too much s i er knight, though deft with needle and 
taxos.” k een } ance? has a stammering tongue. 

He answers: “ Tuta — tuta — tuta — tuta — too much 
taxes! ” 

“Too much taxes:” those three little words fur¬ 
nish us with a clue wherewith to understand and ex¬ 
plain a great deal of history. A great many sieges 
of towns, so horrid to have endured though so pictur¬ 
esque to read about, hundreds of weary marches and 
deadly battles, thousands of romantic plots that have 
led their inventors to the scaffold, have owed their 
origin to questions of taxation. The issue between 
the ducal commander and the warlike tradesman has 
been tried over and over again in every country and 
in every age, and not always has the oppressor been 
so speedily thwarted and got rid of. The questions as 
to how much the taxes shall be, and who is to decide 
how much they shall be, are always and in every stage 
of society questions of most fundamental importance. 
And ever since men began to make history, a very 
large part of what they have done, in the way of 
making history, has been the attempt to settle these 
questions, whether by discussion or by blows, whether 
in council chambers or on the battlefield. The French 
Revolution of 1789, the most terrible political convul¬ 
sion of modern times, was caused chiefly by “ too 
much taxes,” and by the fact that the people who paid 
the taxes were not the people who decided what the 
taxes were to be. Our own Revolution, which made 


TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT. 


3 


the United States a nation independent of Great Brit¬ 
ain, was brought on by the disputed question as to 
who was to decide what taxes American citizens must 

pay- 

What, then, are taxes ? The question is one which 
is apt to come up, sooner or later, to puzzle children. 
They find no difficulty in understanding the butcher’s 
bill for so many pounds of meat, or the tailor’s bill 
for so many suits of clothes, where the value received 
is something that can be seen and handled. But the 
tax bill, though it comes as inevitably as the What ia tax . 
autumnal frosts, bears no such obvious rela- atl0n? 
tion to the incidents of domestic life; it is not quite 
so clear what the money goes for ; and hence it is apt 
to be paid by the head of the household with more or 
less grumbling, while for the younger members of the 
family it requires some explanation. 

It only needs to be pointed out, however, that in 
every town some things are done for the benefit of all 
the inhabitants of the town, things which concern one 
person just as much as another. Thus roads are made 
and kept in repair, school-houses are built and salaries 
paid to school-teachers, there are constables who take 
criminals to jail, there are engines for putting out 
fires, there are public libraries, town cemeteries, and 
poor-houses. Money raised for these purposes, which 
are supposed to concern all the inhabitants, is sup¬ 
posed to be paid by all the inhabitants, each one fur¬ 
nishing his share ; and the share which each one pays 
is his town tax. 

From this illustration it would appear that taxes 
are private property taken for public purposes; and 
in making this statement we come, very near the truth. 
Taxes are portions of private property which a gov¬ 
ernment takes for its public purposes. Before going 


4 TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT. 

farther, let us pause to observe that there is one other 
way, besides taxation, in which government 
eminent do- sometimes takes private property tor public 
purposes. Roads and streets are of great 
importance to the general public ; and the government 
of the town or city in which you live may see fit, in 
opening a new street, to run it across your garden, or 
to make you move your house or shop out of the way 
for it. In so doing, the government either takes away 
or damages some of your property. It exercises rights 
over your property without asking your permission. 
This power of government over private property is 
called “the right of eminent domain.” It means that 
a man’s private interests must not be allowed to ob¬ 
struct the interests of the whole community in which 
he lives. But in two ways the exercise of eminent 
domain is unlike taxation. In the first place, it is 
only occasional, and affects only certain persons here 
or there, whereas taxation goes on perpetually and 
affects all persons who own property. In the second 
place, when the government takes away a piece of 
your land to make a road, it pays you money in 
return for it; perhaps not quite so much as you believe 
the piece of land was worth in the market; the aver¬ 
age human nature is doubtless such that men seldom 
give fair measure for measure unless they feel com¬ 
pelled to, and it is not easy to put a government un¬ 
der compulsion. Still it gives you something; it does 
not ask you to part with your property for nothing. 
Now in the case of taxation, the government takes 
your money and seems to make no return to you indi¬ 
vidually ; but it is supposed to return to you the value 
of it in the shape of well-paved streets, good schools, 
efficient protection against criminals, and so forth. 

In giving this brief preliminary definition of taxes 


TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT. 


5 


ancl taxation, we have already begun to speak of “ the 
government ” of the town or city in which you live. 
We shall presently have to speak of other “ govern¬ 
ments, 1 ”— as the government of your state and the 
government of the United States; and we shall now 
and then have occasion to allude to the g’ov- 

. . b What is 

ernments of other countries m which the peo- govern- 
pie are free, as, for example, England; and 
of some countries in which the people are not free, as, 
for example, Russia. It is desirable, therefore, that 
we should here at the start make sure what we mean 
by “ government,” in order that we may have a clear 
idea of what we are talking about. 


Our verb “ to govern ” is an Old French word, one 
of the great host of French words which became a 
part of the English language between the eleventh 
and fourteenth centuries, when so much French was 
spoken in England. The French word was gouverner , 
and its oldest form was the Latin gubernare , a word 
which the Romans borrowed from the Greek, and 
meant originally “ to steer the ship.” Hence it very 
naturally came to mean “ to guide,” “ to direct,” “ to 
command.” The comparison between governing and 
steering was a happy one. To govern is not to com¬ 
mand as a master commands a slave, but it is to issue 
orders and give directions for the common good; for 
the interests of the man at the helm are the same as 
those of the people in the ship. All must The « ship 
float or sink together. Hence we sometimes of 8tate '” 
speak of the “ ship of state,” and we often call the 
state a “ commonwealth,” or something in the weal or 
welfare of which all the people are alike interested. 

Government, then, is the directing or managing of 
such affairs as concern all the people alike, -— as, for 
example, the punishment of criminals, the enforce- 


6 


TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT. 


ment of contracts, the defence against foreign enemies, 
the maintenance of roads and bridges, and so on. To 
the directing or managing of such affairs all the peo¬ 
ple are expected to contribute, each according to his 
ability, in the shape of taxes. Government is some¬ 
thing which is supported by the people and kept alive 
by taxation. There is no other way of keeping it 
alive. 

The business of carrying on government — of steer¬ 
ing the ship of state — either requires some special 
training, or absorbs all the time and attention of 
those who carry it on; and accordingly, in all coun¬ 
tries, certain persons or groups of persons are se¬ 
lected or in some way set apart, for longer or shorter 
periods of time, to perform the work of government. 
Such persons may be a king with his council, as in the 
England of the twelfth century; or a parliament led 
by a responsible ministry, as in the England of to-day; 
or a president and two houses of congress, as in the 
United States; or a board of selectmen, as in a New 
England town. When we speak of “a government” 
“Thegov- or “the government,” we often mean the 
eminent.” g r0U p 0 f persons thus set apart for carrying 
on the work of government. Thus, by “ the Glad¬ 
stone government ” we mean Mr. Gladstone, with his 
colleagues in the cabinet and his Liberal majority in 
the House of Commons; and by “ the Lincoln gov¬ 
ernment,” properly speaking, was meant President 
Lincoln, with the Republican majorities in the Senate 
and House of Representatives. 

“ The government ” has always many things to do, 
and there are many different lights in which we might 
regard it. But for the present there is one thing 
which we need especially to keep in mind. “ The 
government ” is the power which can rightfully take 


TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT. 


7 


away a part of your property, in the shape of taxes, 
to be used for public purposes. A government is not 
worthy of the name, and cannot long be kept in exist¬ 
ence, unless it can raise money by taxation, Whatever 
and use force, if necessary, in collecting its be, e ‘‘thT y 
taxes. The only general government of the ET’Ms 
U nited States during the Revolutionary War, ^§J wer 
and for six years after its close, was the Con- taxes * 
tinental Congress, which had no authority to raise 
money by taxation. In order to feed and clothe the 
army and pay its officers and soldiers, it was obliged 
to ash for money from the several states, and hardly 
ever got as much as was needed. It was obliged to 
borrow millions of dollars from France and Holland, 
and to issue promissory notes which soon became 
worthless. After the war was over it became clear 
that this so-called government could neither preserve 
order nor pay its debts, and accordingly it ceased to 
be respected either at home or abroad, and it became 
necessary for the American people to adopt a new 
form of government. Between the old Continental 
Congress and the government under which we have 
lived since 1789, the differences were many; but by 
far the most essential difference was that the new gov¬ 
ernment could raise money by taxation, and was thus 
enabled properly to carry on the work of governing. 

If we are in any doubt as to what is really the 
government of some particular country, we cannot do 
better than observe what person or persons in that 
country are clothed with authority to tax the people. 
Mere names, as customarily applied to governments, 
are apt to be deceptive. Thus in the middle of the 
eighteenth century France and England were both 
called “ kingdoms ; ” but so far as kingly power was 
concerned, Louis XY. was a very different sort of a 


8 


TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT. 


king from George II. The French king could impose 
taxes on his people, and it might therefore be truly 
said that the government of France was in the king. 
Indeed, it was Louis XV.’s immediate predecessor who 
made the famous remark, “ The state is myself.” But 
the English king could not impose taxes; the only 
power in England that could do that was the House of 
Commons, and accordingly it is correct to say that in 
England, at the time of which we are speaking, the 
government was (as it still is) in the House of Com¬ 
mons. 

I say, then, the most essential feature of a govern¬ 
ment — or at any rate the feature with which it is 
most important for us to become familiar at the start 
— is its power of taxation. The government is that 
Difference which taxes. If individuals take away some 
taxation of y our property for purposes of their own, 
and robbery. ^ - g ro bb e ry . y OU l ose your money and get 
nothing in return. But if the government takes away 
some of your property in the shape of taxes, it is sup¬ 
posed to render to you an equivalent in the shape of 
good government, something without which our lives 
and property would not be safe. Herein seems to lie 
the difference between taxation and robbery. When 
the highwayman points his pistol at me and I hand 
him my purse and watch, I am robbed. But when I 
pay the tax-collector, who can seize my watch or sell 
my house over my head if I refuse, I am simply pay¬ 
ing what is fairly due from me toward supporting the 
government. 

In what we have been saying it has thus far been 
assumed that the government is in the hands of up¬ 
right and competent men and is properly administered. 
It is now time to observe that robbery may be com¬ 
mitted by governments as well as by individuals. If 


TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT. 


9 


the business of governing is placed in the hands of 
men who have an imperfect sense of their duty toward 
the public, if such men raise money by taxa¬ 
tion and then spend it on their own*pleas- taxation* 
ures, or to increase their political influence, robbery * 
or for other illegitimate purposes, it is really robbery, 
just as much as if these men were to stand with pis¬ 
tols by the roadside and empty the wallets of people 
passing by. They make a dishonest use of their high 
position as members of government, and extort money 
for which they make no return in the shape of ser¬ 
vices to the public. History is full of such lament¬ 
able instances of misgovernment, and one of the most 
important uses of the study of history is to teach us 
how they have occurred, in order that we may learn 
how to avoid them, as far as possible, in the future. 

When we begin in childhood the study of history 
we are attracted chiefly by anecdotes of heroes and 
their battles, kings and their courts, how the ^ study 
Spartans fought at Thermopylae, how Alfred o£ hlstory ‘ 
let the cakes burn, how Henry VIII. beheaded his 
wives, how Louis XIV. used to live at Versailles. It 
is quite right that we should be interested in such per¬ 
sonal details, the more so the better; for history has 
been made by individual men and women, and until 
we have understood the character of a great many of 
those who have gone before us, and how they thought 
and felt in their time, we have hardly made a fair 
beginning in the study of history. The greatest his¬ 
torians, such as Freeman and Mommsen, show as 
lively an interest in persons as in principles; and I 
would not give much for the historical theories of a 
man who should declare himself indifferent to little 
personal details. 

Some people, however, never outgrow the child’s 


10 


TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT. 


notion of history as merely a mass of pretty anec¬ 
dotes or stupid annals, without any practical bearing 
upon our own every-day life. There could not be a 
greater mistake. Very little has happened in the 
past which has not some immediate prac- 
practicai tical lessons for us ; and when we study his¬ 
tory in order to profit by the experience of 
our ancestors, to find out wherein they succeeded and 
wherein they failed, in order that we may emulate 
their success and avoid their errors, then history be¬ 
comes the noblest and most valuable of studies. It 
then becomes, moreover, an arduous pursuit, at once 
oppressive and fascinating from its endless wealth of 
material, and abounding in problems which the most 
diligent student can never hope completely to solve. 

Few people have the leisure to undertake a syste¬ 
matic and thorough study of history, but every one 
ought to find time to learn the principal features of 
the governments under which we live, and to get some 
inkling of the way in which these governments have 
come into existence and of the causes which have 
made them what they are. Some such 
to those who knowledge is necessary for the proper dis- 
good citi- charge of the duties of citizenship. Political 
questions, great and small, are perpetually 
arising, to be discussed in the newspapers and voted 
on at the polls; and it is the duty of every man and 
woman, young or old, to try to understand them. 
That is a duty which we owe, each and all of us, to 
ourselves and to our fellow-countrymen. For if such 
questions are not settled in accordance with knowledge, 
they will be settled in accordance with ignorance ; and 
that is a kind of settlement likely to be fraught with 
results disastrous to everybody. It cannot be too often 
repeated that eternal vigilance is the price of lib- 


TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT. 


11 


erty. People sometimes argue as if they supposed 
that because our national government is called a re¬ 
public and not a monarchy, and because we Eternal 
have free schools and universal suffrage, thf price of 
therefore our liberties are forever secure. liberty< 
Our government is, indeed, in most respects, a marvel 
of political skill; and in ordinary times it runs so 
smoothly that now and then, absorbed as most of us 
are in domestic cares, we are apt to forget that it will 
not run of itself. To insure that the government of 
the nation or the state, of the city or the township, shall 
be properly administered, requires from every citizen 
the utmost watchfulness and intelligence of which he 
is capable. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

To the teacher. Encourage full answers. Do not permit any¬ 
thing like committing the text to memory. In the long run the 
pupil who relies upon his own language, however inferior it may 
be to that of the text, is better off. Naturally, with thoughtful 
study, the pupil’s language will feel the influence of that of the 
text, and so improve. The important thing in any answer is 
the fundamental thought. This idea once grasped, the expres¬ 
sion of it may receive some attention. The expression will often 
be broken and faulty, partly because of the immaturity of the 
pupil, and partly because of the newness and difficulty of the 
theme. Do not let the endeavour to secure excellent expression 
check a certain freedom and spontaneity that should be encour¬ 
aged in the pupil. When the teacher desires to place special 
stress on excellent presentation, it is wise to assign topics before¬ 
hand, so that each pupil may know definitely what is expected 
of him, and prepare himself accordingly. 

1. Tell the story that introduces the chapter. 

2 . What lesson is it designed to teach ? 

3 . What caused the French Revolution ? 

4 . What caused the American Revolution ? 

5 . Compare the tax bill with that of the butcher or tailor. 

6 . What are taxes raised for in a town ? For whose benefit ? 

7 . Define taxes. 


12 


TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT. 


' 8 . Define the right of eminent domain. 

9 . Distinguish between taxes and the right of eminent domain. 

10 . What is the origin of the word “ govern ” ? 

11 . Define government. 

12 . By whom is it supported, how is it kept alive, and by whom 

is it carried on ? 

13 . Give illustrations of governments. 

[ 4 . What one power must government have to be worthy of the 
name ? 

15 . What was the principal weakness of the government during 

the American Revolution ? 

16 . Compare this government with that of the United States 

since 1789. 

17 . If it is doubtful what the real government of a country is, 

how may the doubt be settled ? 

18 . Illustrate by reference to France and England in the eigh¬ 

teenth century. 

19 . What is the difference between taxation and robbery ? 

20 . Under what conditions may taxation become robbery ? 

21 . To what are we easily attracted in our first study of history ? 

22 . What ought to be learned from history ? 

23 . What sort of knowledge is helpful in discharging the duties 

of citizenship? 

24 . Show how “ eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS. 

To the teacher. The object of this series of questions and 
suggestions is to stimulate reading, investigating, and thinking. 
It is not expected, indeed it is hardly possible, that each pupil 
shall respond to them all. A single question may cost prolonged 
study. Assign the numbers, therefore, to individuals to report 
upon at a subsequent recitation, — one or more to each pupil, 
according to the difficulty of the numbers. Reserve some for 
class consideration or discussion. Now and then let the teacher 
answer a question himself, partly to furnish the pupils with good 
examples of answers, and partly to insure attention to matters 
that might otherwise escape notice. 

1. Are there people who receive no benefit from their payment 

of taxes ? 

2 . Are the benefits received by people in proportion to the 

amounts paid by them ? 


TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT. 13 

3 . Show somewhat fully what taxes had to do with the French 

Revolution. 

4 . Show somewhat fully what taxes had to do with the American 

Revolution. 

5 . Give illustrations of the exercise of the right of eminent 

domain in your own town or county or state. 

6 . Do railroad corporations exercise such a right ? How do 

they succeed in getting land for their tracks ? 

7 . In case of disagreement, how is a fair price determined for 

property taken by eminent domain ? 

8 . What persons are prominent to-day in the government of 

your own town or city ? Of your own county ? Of your 
own state ? Of the United States ? 

9 . Who constitute the government of the school to which you 

belong? Does this question admit of more than one 
answer ? Has the government of your school any power 
to tax the people to support the school ? 

10 . What is the difference between a state and the government 

of a state ? 

11. Which is the more powerful branch of the English Parlia¬ 

ment ? Why ? 

12 . Is it a misuse of the funds of a city to provide entertain¬ 

ments for the people July 4? To expend money in en¬ 
tertaining distinguished guests ? To provide flowers* 
carriages, cigars, wines, etc., for such guests ? 

13 . What is meant by subordinating public office to private 

ends ? Cite instances from history. 

14 . What histories have you read ? What one of them, if any, 

would you call a “ child’s history,” or a “ drum and trum¬ 
pet ” history ? What one of them, if any, has impressed 
any lessons upon you ? 

15 . Mention some principles that history has taught you. 

16 . Mention a few offices, and tell the sort of intelligence that is 

needed by the persons who hold them. What results 
might follow if such intelligence were lacking ? 


14 


TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 

—♦— 

It is designed in the bibliographical notes to indicate some au¬ 
thorities to which reference may be made for greater detail than 
is possible in an elementary work like the present. It is be¬ 
lieved that the notes will prove a help to teacher and pupil in 
special investigations, and to the reader who may wish to make 
selections from excellent sources for purposes of self-culture. 
It is hardly necessary to add that it is sometimes worth much 
to the student to know where valuable information may be ob¬ 
tained, even when it is not practicable to make immediate use 
of it. 

Certain books should always be at the teacher’s desk during 
the instruction in civil government, and as easily accessible as 
the large dictionary; as, for instance, the following : The Gen¬ 
eral Statutes of the state, the manual or blue-book of the state 
legislature, and, if the school is in a city, the city charter and 
ordinances. It is also desirable to add to this list the statutes of 
the United States and a manual of Congress or of the general 
government. Manuals may be obtained through representatives 
in the state legislature and in Congress. They will answer nearly 
every purpose if they are not of the latest issue. The States¬ 
man’s Year Book , published by Macmillan & Co., New York, 
every year, is exceedingly valuable for reference. Certain al¬ 
manacs, particularly the comprehensive ones issued by the New 
York Tribune and the New York World , are rich in state and 
national statistics, and so inexpensive as to be within everybody’s 
means. 

Taxation and Government. — As to the causes of the 
American revolution, seo my War of Independence, Boston, 
1889; and as to the weakness of the government of the United 
States before 1789, see my Critical Period of American History , 
Boston, 1888. As to the causes of the French revolution, see 
Paul Lacombe, The Growth of a People, N. Y., 1883, and the 
third volume of Kitchin’s History of France, London, 1887 ; also 
Morse Stephens, The French Revolution, vol. i., N. Y., 1887 ; 
Taine, The Ancient Regime, N. Y., 1876, and The Revolution , 2 
vols., N. Y., 1880. The student may read with pleasure and 
profit Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities. For the student familiar 



TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT. 


15 


with French, an excellent hook is Albert Babeau, Le Village sous 
Vancien Regime, Paris, 1879 ; see also Tocqueville, Uancien Regime 
et la Revolution, 7th ed., Paris, 1866. There is a good sketch of 
the causes of the French revolution in the fifth volume of 
Lecky’s History of England in the Eighteenth Century, N. Y., 1887; 
see also Buckle’s History of Civilization, chaps, xii.-xiv. There is 
no better commentary on my first chapter than the lurid history 
of France in the eighteenth century. The strong contrast to 
English and American history shows us most instructively what 
we have thus far escaped. 


CHAPTER IL 


THE TOWNSHIP. 

§ 1. The New England Township . 

Of the various kinds of government to be found in 
the United States, we may begin by considering that 
of the New England township. As we shall presently 
see, it is in principle of all known forms of govern¬ 
ment the oldest as well as the simplest. Let us ob¬ 
serve how the New England township grew up. 

When people from England first came to dwell in 
the wilderness of Massachusetts Bay, they settled in 
groups upon small irregular-shaped patches of land, 
which soon came to be known as townships. There 
were several reasons why they settled thus in small 
groups, instead of scattering about over the country 
and carving out broad estates for themselves* In the 
first place, their principal reason for coming 
iandwas to New England was their dissatisfaction 
church con- with the way in which church affairs were 
managed in the old country. They wished 
to bring about a reform in the church, in such wise 
that the members of a congregation should have more 
voice than formerly in the church-government, and 
that the minister of each congregation should be more 
independent than formerly of the bishop and of the 
civil government. They also wished to abolish sun¬ 
dry rites and customs of the church of which they 


THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP. 


17 


had come to disapprove. Finding the resistance to 
their reforms quite formidable in England, and having 
some reason to fear that they might be themselves 
crushed in the struggle, they crossed the ocean in 
order to carry out their ideas in a new and remote 
country where they might be comparatively secure 
from interference. Hence it was quite natural that 
they should come in congregations, led by their favour¬ 
ite ministers, — such men, for example, as Higginson 
and Cotton, Hooker and Davenport. When such 
men, famous in England for their bold preaching and 
imperilled thereby, decided to move to America, a 
considerable number of their parishioners would de¬ 
cide to accompany them, and similarly minded members 
of neighbouring churches would leave their own pastor 
and join in the migration. Such a group of people, 
arriving on the coast of Massachusetts, would natu¬ 
rally select some convenient locality, where they might 
build their houses near together and all go to the same 
church. 

This migration, therefore, was a movement, not of 
individuals or of separate families, but of church- 
congregations, and it continued to be so as the settlers 
made their way inland and westward. The first river 
towns of Connecticut were founded by congregations 
coming from Dorchester, Cambridge, and Watertown. 
This kind of settlement was favoured by the govern¬ 
ment of Massachusetts, which made grants 

. ...... . Land grants. 

of land, not to individuals but to companies 
of people who wished to live together and attend the 
same church. 

In the second place, the soil of New England was 
not favourable to the cultivation of great quantities of 
staple articles, such as rice or tobacco, so that there 
was nothing to tempt people to undertake exten- 


18 


THE TOWNSHIP. 


sive plantations. Most of tlie people lived on small 
farms, each family raising but little more than enough 
food for its own support; and the small size 
of the farms made it possible to have a good 
many in a compact neighbourhood. It appeared also 
that towns could be more easily defended against the 
Indians than scattered plantations ; and this doubtless 
helped to keep people together, although if there had 
been any strong inducement for solitary pioneers to 
plunge into the great woods, as i;i later years so often 
happened at the W est, it is not likely that any dread 
of the savages would have hindered them. 

Thus the early settlers of New England came to 
live in townships. A township would consist of about 
as many farms as could be disposed within convenient 
distance from the meeting-house, where all the inliab- 
tants, young and old, gathered every Sunday, coming 
on horseback or afoot. The meeting-house was thus 
Township centrally situated, and near it was the town 
and village. p as t U re or “ common,” with the school-house 
and the block-house, or rude fortress for defence 
against the Indians. For the latter building some 
commanding position was apt to be selected, and hence 
we so often find the old village streets of New Eng¬ 
land running along elevated ridges or climbing over 
beetling hilltops. Around the meeting-house and 
common the dwellings gradually clustered into a vil¬ 
lage, and after a while the tavern, store, and town- 
house made their appearance. 

Among the people who thus tilled the farms and 
built up the villages of New England, the differences 
in what we should call social position, though notice¬ 
able, were not extreme. While in England some had 
been esquires or country magistrates, or “ lords of the 
manor,” — a phrase which does not mean a member 


THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP. 


19 


of the peerage, but a landed proprietor with dependent 
tenants; 1 some had been yeomen, or persons holding 
farms by some free kind of tenure ; some 
had been artisans or tradesmen in cities. tionVset" 
All had for many generations been more or 
less accustomed to self-government and to public meet¬ 
ings for discussing local affairs. That self-govern¬ 
ment, especially as far as church matters were con¬ 
cerned, they were stoutly bent upon maintaining and 
extending. Indeed, that was what they had crossed 
the ocean for. Under these circumstances they de¬ 
veloped a kind of government which we may describe 
in the present tense, for its methods are pretty much 
the same to-day that they were two centuries ago. 

In a New England township the people directly 
govern themselves ; the government is the people, or, 
to speak with entire precision, it is all the male inhab¬ 
itants of one-and-twenty years of age and upwards. 
The people tax themselves. Once each year, usually 
in March but sometimes as early as February or as 
late as April, a “ town-meeting ” is held, at The town- 
which all the grown men of the township are meetmg> 
expected to be present and to vote, while any one may 
introduce motions or take part in the discussion. In 
early times there was a fine for non-attendance, but 
that is no longer the case ,* it is supposed that a due re¬ 
gard to his own interests will induce every man to come. 

The town-meeting is held in the town-house, but at 
first it used to be held in the church, which was thus 
a “ meeting-house ” for civil as well as ecclesiastical 
purposes. At the town-meeting measures relating to 
the administration of town affairs are discussed and 
adopted or rejected; appropriations are made for the 
public expenses of the town, or in other words the 
1 Compare the Scottish “ laird.” 


20 


THE TOWNSHIP. 


amount of the town taxes for the year is determined ; 
and town officers are elected for the year. Let us first 
enumerate these officers. 

The principal executive magistrates of the town are 
the selectmen. They are three, five, seven, or nine in 
number, according to the size of the town and the 
amount of public business to be transacted. The odd 
number insures a majority decision in case of any 
difference of opinion among them. They have the 
general management of the public business. 
They issue warrants for the holding of town- 
meetings, and they can call such a meeting at any 
time during the year when there seems to be need for 
it, but the warrant must always specify the subjects 
which are to be discussed and acted on at the meeting. 
The selectmen also lay out highways, grant licenses, 
and impanel jurors; they may act as health officers 
and issue orders regarding sewerage, the abatement of 
nuisances, or the isolation of contagious diseases; in 
many cases they act as assessors of taxes, and as over¬ 
seers of the poor. They are the proper persons to 
listen to complaints if anything goes wrong in the 
town. In county matters and state matters they speak 
for the town, and if it is a party to a law-suit they 
represent it in court; for the New England town is a 
legal corporation, and as such can hold property, and 
sue and be sued. In a certain sense the selectmen 
may be said to be “ the government ” of the town 
during the intervals between the town-meetings. 

An officer no less important than the selectmen is 
the town-clerk. He keeps the record of all votes 
Town clerk P asse( ^ ^ ie town-meetings. He also re¬ 
cords the names of candidates and the num¬ 
ber of votes for each in the election of state and 
county officers. He records the births, marriages, 


THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP. 


21 


and deaths in the township, and issues certificates to 
persons who declare an intention of marriage. He 
likewise keeps on record accurate descriptions of the 
position and bounds of public roads ; and, in short, 
has general charge of all matters of town-record. 

Every town has also its treasurer, who receives and 
takes care of the money coming in from the Town . 
taxpayers, or whatever money belongs to treasurer - 
the town. Out of this money he pays the public ex¬ 
penses. He must keep a strict account of his receipts 
and payments, and make a report of them each year. 

Every town has one or more constables, who serve 
warrants from the selectmen and writs from 
the law courts. They pursue criminals and e8 " 

take them to jail. They summon jurors. In many 
towns they serve as collectors of taxes, but in many 
other towns a special officer is chosen for that pur¬ 
pose. When a person fails to pay his taxes, after a 
specified time the collector has authority to seize upon 
his property and sell it at auction, paying the tax and 
costs out of the proceeds of the sale, and handing 
over the balance to the owner. In some cases, where 
no property can be found and there is reason to be¬ 
lieve that the delinquent is not acting in good faith, 
he can be arrested and kept in prison until the tax 
and costs are paid, or until he is released by the 
proper legal methods. 

Where the duties of the selectmen are likely to be 
too numerous, the town may choose three or Assess0 rs of 
more assessors of taxes to prepare the tax overeee^ of 
lists; and three or more overseers of the the poor ' 
poor, to regulate the management of the village alms¬ 
house and confer with other towns upon such ques¬ 
tions as often arise concerning the settlement and 
maintenance of homeless paupers. 


22 


THE TOWNSHIP. 


Every town has its school committee. In 1647 the 
legislature of Massachusetts enacted a law with the 
following preamble : “ It being one chief project of 
Public that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from 

schools. the knowledge of the Scriptures, as in for¬ 

mer times by keeping them in an unknown tongue, so 
in these latter times by persuading from the use of 
tongues, that so at least the true sense and meaning 
of the original might be clouded and corrupted with 
false glosses of deceivers ; to the end that learning 
may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers, 
in church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our 
endeavours; ” it was therefore ordered that every 
township containing fifty families or householders 
should forthwith set up a school in which children 
might be taught to read and write, and that every 
township containing one hundred families or house¬ 
holders should set up a school in which boys might be 
fitted for entering Harvard College. Even before this 
statute, several towns, as for instance Roxbury and 
Dedham, had begun to appropriate money for free 
schools ; and these were the beginnings of a system 
of public education which has come to be adopted 
throughout the United States. 

The school committee exercises powers of such a 
School character as to make it a body of great im- 

comnuttees. p 0r t ance> The term of service of the mem¬ 
bers is three years, one third being chosen annually. 
The number of members must therefore be some mul¬ 
tiple of three. The slow change in the membership 
of the board insures that a large proportion of the 
members shall always be familiar with the duties of 
the place. The school committee must visit all the 
public schools at least once a month, and make a re¬ 
port to the town every year. It is for them to decide 


THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP. 


28 


what text-books are to be used. They examine can¬ 
didates for the position of teacher and issue certifi¬ 
cates to those whom they select. The certificate is* 
issued in duplicate, and one copy is handed to the 
selectmen as a warrant that the teacher is entitled to 
receive a salary. Teachers are appointed for a term 
of one year, but where their work is satisfactory the 
appointments are usually renewed year after year. A 
recent act in Massachusetts permits the appointment 
of teachers to serve during good behaviour, but few 
boards have as yet availed themselves of this law. If 
the amount of work to be done seems to require it, 
the committee appoints a superintendent of schools. 
He is a sort of lieutenant of the school committee, and 
under its general direction carries on the detailed 
work of supervision. 

Other town officers are the surveyors of highways, 
who are responsible for keeping the roads and bridges 
in repair ; field - drivers and pound-keepers ; fence- 
viewers ; surveyors of lumber, measurers of wood, 
and sealers of weights and measures. 

The field-driver takes stray animals to the pound, 
and then notifies their owner ; or if he does 

. Field-drivers 

not know who is the owner he posts a de- and pound- 
scription of the animals in some such place 
as the village store or tavern, or has it published in 
the nearest country newspaper. Meanwhile the strays 
are duly fed by the pound-keeper, who does not let 
them out of his custody until all expenses have been 
paid. 

If the owners of contiguous farms, gardens, or 
fields get into a dispute about their partition fences 
or walls, they may apply to one of the fence- Fence _ 
viewers, of whom each town has at least viewers * 
two. The fence-viewer decides the matter, and charges 


24 


THE TOWNSHIP. 


a small fee for liis services. Where it is necessary he 
may order suitable walls or fences to be built. 

The surveyors of lumber measure and mark lumber 
offered for sale. The measurers of wood do the same 
other for firewood. The sealers test the correct- 
officers. nesg 0 £ weights and measures used in trade, 
and tradesmen are not allowed to use weights and 
measures that have not been thus officially examined 
and sealed. Measurers and sealers may be appointed 
by the selectmen. 

Such are the officers always to be found in the Mas¬ 
sachusetts town, except where the duties of some of 
them are discharged by the selectmen. Of these offi¬ 
cers, the selectmen, town-clerk, treasurer, constable, 
school committee, and assessors must be elected by 
ballot at the annual town-meeting. 

When this meeting is to be called the selectmen 
issue a warrant for the purpose, specifying the time 
and place of meeting and the nature of the business 
to be transacted. The constable posts copies of the 
warrant in divers conspicuous places not less than a 
week before the time appointed. Then, after 

Calling the 11 ’ 

town-meet- making a note upon the warrant that he has 
duly served it, he hands it over to the town- 
clerk. On the appointed day, when the people have 
assembled, the town-clerk calls the meeting to order 
and reads the warrant. The meeting then proceeds 
to choose by ballot its presiding officer, or “ modera¬ 
tor,” and business goes on in accordance with parlia¬ 
mentary customs pretty generally recognized among 
all people who speak English. 

At this meeting the amount of money to be raised 
by taxation for town purposes is determined. But, as 
we shall see, every inhabitant of a town lives not only 
under a town government, but also under a county 


THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP. 25 


government and a state government, and all these gov¬ 
ernments have to he supported by taxation. 

In Massachusetts the state and the county ty, and 
make use of the machinery of the town 
government in order to assess and collect their taxes. 
The total amounts to be raised are equitably divided 
among the several towns and cities, so that each town 
pays its proportionate share. Each year, therefore, 
the town assessors know that a certain amount of 
money must be raised from the taxpayers of their 
town, — partly for the town, partly for the county, 
partly for the state, — and for the general convenience 
they usually assess it upon the taxpayers all at once. 
The amounts raised for the state and county are usu¬ 
ally very much smaller than the amount raised for 
the town. As these amounts are all raised in the 
town and by town officers, we shall find it convenient 
to sum up in this place what we have to say about the 
way in which taxes are raised. Bear in mind that we 
are still considering the New England system, and 
our illustration is taken from the practice in Massa¬ 
chusetts. But the general principles of taxation are 
so similar in the different, states that, although we 
may now and then have to point to differences of 
detail, we shall not need to go over the whole subject 
again. We have now to observe how and upon whom 
the taxes are assessed. 

They are assessed partly upon persons, but chiefly 
upon property, and property is divisible into real 
estate and personal estate. The tax assessed 

• nii n i Poll-tax. 

upon persons is called the poll-tax, and can¬ 
not exceed the sum of two dollars upon every male cit¬ 
izen over twenty years old. In cases of extreme pov¬ 
erty the assessors may remit the poll-tax. 

As to real estate, there are in every town some 


26 


THE TOWNSHIP. 


lands and buildings which, for reasons of public pol- 
Reai-estate ic y> are exempted from paying taxes ; as, for 
taxes. example, churches, graveyards, and tombs; 
many charitable institutions, including universities 
and colleges; and public buildings which belong to 
the state or to the United States. All lands and 
buildiggs, except such as are exempt by law, must 
pay taxes. 

Personal property includes pretty much everything 
that one can own except lands and buildings, — pretty 
much everything that can be moved or car- 
personal ried about from one place to another. It 
property. thus includes ready money, stocks and bonds, 
ships and wagons, furniture, pictures, and books. It 
also includes the amount of debts due to a person in 
excess of the amount that he owes ; also the income 
from his employment, whether in the shape of profits 
from business or a fixed salary. 

Some personal property is exempted from taxation; 
as, for example, household furniture to the amount of 
$1,000 in value, and income from employment to the 
extent of $2,000. The obvious intent of this exemp¬ 
tion is to prevent taxation from bearing too hard upon 
persons of small means; and for a similar reason the 
tools of farmers and mechanics are exempted. 1 

The date at which property is annually reckoned 
for assessment is in Massachusetts the first day of 
May. The poll-tax is assessed upon each person in 
the town or city where he has his legal habitation on 
„ that day; and as a general rule the taxes 

where taxes upon his personal property are assessed to 

are assessed. _ . . A X A ^ 

him m the same place. .but taxes upon 

lands or buildings are assessed in the city or town 

1 United States bonds are als6 especially exempted from tax¬ 
ation. 


THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP. 27 


where they are situated, and to the person, wherever 
he lives, who is the owner of them on the first day of 
May. Thus a man who lives in the Berkshire moun¬ 
tains, say for example in the town of Lanesborough, 
will pay his poll-tax to that town. For his personal 
property, whether it be bonds of a railroad in Col¬ 
orado, or shares in a bank in New York, or costly 
pictures in his house at Lanesborough, he will like* 
wise pay taxes to Lanesborough. So for the house in 
which he lives, and the land upon which it stands, he 
pays taxes to that same town. But if he owns at the 
same time a house in Boston, he pays taxes for it to 
Boston, and if he owns a block of shops in Chicago 
he pays taxes for the same to Chicago. It is very apt 
to be the case that the rate of taxation is higher in 
large cities than in villages; and accordingly it often 
happens that wealthy inhabitants of cities, who own 
houses in some country town, move into them before 
the first of May, and otherwise comport themselves as 
legal residents of the country town, in order that their 
personal property may be assessed there rather than 
in the city. 

About the first of May the assessors call upon the 
inhabitants of their town to render a true statement 
as to their property. The most approved form is for 
the assessors to send by mail to each taxable inhabitant 
a printed list of questions, with blank spaces which 
he is to fill with written answers. The questions relate 
to every kind of property, and when the Taxlistg 
person addressed returns the list to the as¬ 
sessors he must make oath that to the best of his 
knowledge and belief his answers are true. He thus 
becomes liable to the penalties for perjury if he can be 
proved to have sworn falsely. A reasonable time — 
usually six or eight weeks — is allowed for the list to 


28 


THE TOWNSHIP. 


be returned to the assessors. If any one fails to 
return his list by the specified time, the assessors must 
make their own estimate of the probable amount of 
his property. If their estimate is too high, he may 
petition the assessors to have the error corrected, but 
in many cases it may prove troublesome to effect this. 

Observe here an important difference between the 
imposition of taxes upon real estate and upon personal 
property. Houses and lands cannot run away or be 
tucked out of sight. Their value, too, is something 
of which the assessors can very likely judge as well 

as the owner. Deception is therefore ex- 

Cheating A 

the govern- tremelv difficult, and taxation for real estate 

ment. . “ , , . 

is pretty fairly distributed among the differ¬ 
ent owners. With regard to personal estate it is very 
different. It is comparatively easy to conceal one’s 
ownership of some kinds of personal property, or to 
understate one’s income. Hence the temptation to 
lessen the burden of the tax bill by making false 
statements is considerable, and doubtless a good deal 
of deception is practised. There are many people 
who are too honest to cheat individuals, but still con¬ 
sider it a venial sin to cheat the government. 

After the assessors have obtained all their returns 
they can calculate the total value of the taxable prop¬ 
erty in the town; and knowing the amount of the tax 
to be raised, it is easy to calculate the rate at which the 
The rate of fax is f° be assessed. In most parts of the 
taxation. United States a rate of one and a half per 
cent, or $15 tax on each $1,000 worth of property, 
would be regarded as moderate ; three per cent would 
be regarded as excessively high. At the lower of 
these rates a man worth $50,000 would pay $750 for 
his yearly taxes. The annual income of $50,000, in¬ 
vested on good security, is hardly more than $2,500. 



THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP. 29 

Obviously 1750 is a large sum to subtract from such 
an income. 

In point of fact, however, the tax is seldom quite as 
heavy as this. It is not easy to tell exactly how much 
a man is worth, and accordingly assessors, not wish¬ 
ing to be too disagreeable in the discharge of their 
duties, have naturally fallen into a way of giving the 
lower valuation the benefit of the doubt, until in many 
places a custom has grown up of regularly undervalue 
undervaluing property for purposes of taxa- tl0n * 
tion. Very much as liquid measures have gradually 
shrunk until it takes five quart bottles to hold a gal¬ 
lon, so there has been a shrinkage of valuations until 
it has become common to tax a man for only three 
fourths or perhaps two thirds of what his property is 
worth in the market. This makes the rate higher, to 
be sure, but the individual taxpayer nevertheless 
seems to feel relieved by it. Allowing for this under¬ 
valuation, we may say that a man worth $50,000 com¬ 
monly pays not less than $500 for his yearly taxes, or 
about one fifth of the annual income of the property. 
We thus begin to see what a heavy burden T he burden 
taxes are, and how essential to good govern- of taxation * 
ment it is that citizens should know what their money 
goes for, and should be able to exert some effective 
control over the public expenditures. Where the rate 
of taxation in a town rises to a very high point, such 
as two and a half or three per cent, the prosperity of 
the town is apt to be seriously crippled. Traders and 
manufacturers move away to other towns, or those 
who would otherwise come to the town in question 
stay away, because they cannot afford to use up all 
their profits in paying taxes. If such a state of things 
is long kept up, the spirit of enterprise is weakened, 
the place shows signs of untidiness and want of thrift, 


30 


THE TOWNSHIP. 


and neighbouring towns, once perhaps far behind it 
in growth, by and by shoot ahead of it and take away 
its business. 

Within its proper sphere, government by town¬ 
meeting is the form of government most effectively 
under watch and control. Everything is done in the 
full daylight of publicity. The specific objects for 
which public money is to be appropriated are dis¬ 
cussed in the presence of everybody, and any one who 
disapproves of any of these objects, or of the way in 
which it is proposed to obtain it, has an opportunity 
to declare his opinions. Under this form of govern¬ 
ment people are not so liable to bewildering delusions 
as under other forms. I refer especially to the delu¬ 
sion that 64 the Government ” is a sort of mysterious 
power, possessed of a magic inexhaustible 
fund ’Mefu- fund of wealth, and able to do all manner 
of things for the benefit of “ the People.” 
Some such notion as this, more often implied than 
expressed, is very common, and it is inexpressibly dear 
to demagogues. It is the prolific root from which 
springs that luxuriant crop of humbug upon which 
political tricksters thrive as pigs fatten upon corn. 
In point of fact no such government, armed with a 
magic fund of its own, has ever existed upon the earth. 
No government has ever yet used any money for pub¬ 
lic purposes which it did not first take from its own 
people, — unless when it may have plundered it from 
some other people in victorious warfare. 

The inhabitant of a New England town is per¬ 
petually reminded that “ the Government ” is “ the 
People.” Although he may think loosely about the 
government of his state or the still more remote gov¬ 
ernment at Washington, he is kept pretty close to 
the facts where local affairs are concerned, and in 
this there is a political training of no small value. 


THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP. 


31 

In the kind of discussion which it provokes, in the 
necessity of facing argument with argument Educational 
and of keeping one’s temper under control, towu-mee ? 6 
the town-meeting is the best political train- ing - 
ing school in existence. Its educational value is far 
higher than that of the newspaper, which, in spite of 
its many merits as a diffuser of information, is very 
apt to do its best to bemuddle and sophisticate plain 
facts. The period when town-meetings were most im¬ 
portant from the wide scope of their transactions was 
the period of earnest and sometimes stormy discussion 
that ushered in our Revolutionary war. Country 
towns were then of more importance relatively than 
now ; one country town — Boston — was at the same 
time a great political centre ; and its meetings were pre¬ 
sided over and addressed by men of commanding abil¬ 
ity, among whom Samuel Adams, “ the man of the 
town-meeting,” 1 was foremost. In those days great 
principles of government were discussed with a wealth 
of knowledge and stated with masterly skill in town¬ 
meeting. 

The town-meeting is to a very limited extent a leg¬ 
islative body ; it can make sundry regulations for the 
management of its local affairs. Such regulations are 
known by a very ancient name, “ by-laws.” ^ ^ 

By is an Old Norse word meaning “ town,” 
and it appears in the names of such towns as Derby 
and Whitby in the part of England overrun by the 
Danes in the ninth and tenth centuries. Bydaws are 
town laws . 2 3 

1 The phrase is Professor Hosmer’s : see his Samuel Adams , 
the Man of the Town Meeting , in “Johns Hopkins Univ. Studies,” 

vol. II. no. iv.; also his Samuel Adams , in “American States¬ 
men ” series, Boston, 1885. 

3 In modern usage the rules and regulations of clubs, learned 
•societies, and other associations, are also called by-laws. 


32 


THE TOWNSHIP. 


In the selectmen and various special officers the 
town has an executive department; and here let us 
observe that, while these officials are kept strictly ac¬ 
countable to the people, they are intrusted with very 
considerable authority. Things are not so arranged 
that an officer can plead that he has failed 
responsibii- in his duty from lack of power. There is 
ample power, joined with complete responsi¬ 
bility. This is especially to be noticed in the case of 
the selectmen. They must often be called upon to 
exercise a wide discretion in what they do, yet this ex¬ 
cites no serious popular distrust or jealousy. The an¬ 
nual election affords an easy means of dropping an 
unsatisfactory officer. But in practice nothing has 
been more common than for the same persons to be 
reelected as selectmen or constables or town-clerks for 
year after year, as long as they are able or willing to 
serve. The notion that there is anything peculiarly 
American or democratic in what is known as “ rota¬ 
tion in office ” is therefore not sustained by the prac¬ 
tice of the New England town, which is the most com¬ 
plete democracy in the world. It is the most perfect 
exhibition of what President Lincoln called “ govern¬ 
ment of the people by the people and for the peo- 
ple.” 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

1. What reason exists for beginning the study of government 

with that of the New England township ? 

2. Give the origin of the township in New England according 

to the following analysis : — 

a. Settlement in groups. 

b. The chief reason for coming to New England. 

c. The leaders of the groups. 

a. The favouring action of the Massachusetts government. 

e. Small farms. 

/. Defence against the Indians. 

g. The limits of a township. 

h. The village within the township. 


THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP 


33 


3 . What was the social standing of the first settlers ? 

4 . What training had they received in self-government ? 

5 . Who do the governing in a New England township ? 

6 . Give an account of the town-meeting in accordance with the 

following analysis : — 

a. The name of the meeting. 

b. The time for holding it. 

c. The place for holding it. 

d. The persons who take part in it. 

e. The sort of business done in it. 

7 . Give an account of the selectmen : — 

a. Their number. 

b. The reason for an odd number. 

c. Their duties. 

8. When public schools were established by Massachusetts in 

1647, what reasons were assigned for the law ? 

9 . What classes or grades of schools were then established ? 

10 . What are the duties of the Massachusetts school committee ? 

11 . What is the term of service of teachers in that state ? 

12 . What are the duties of the following officers ? — 

a. Field-drivers. 

b. Pound-keepers. 

c. Fence-viewers. 

d. Surveyors of lumber. 

e. Measurers of wood. 

f Sealers of weights and measures. 

13 . What are the duties of the following officers? ■— 

a. The town-clerk. 

b. The treasurer. 

c. Constables. 

d. Assessors. 

e. Overseers of the poor. 

14 . Describe a warrant for a town-meeting. 

15 . For what other purposes than those of the town are taxes 

raised ? 

16 . Explain the following : — 

a. The poll-tax. 

b. The tax on personal property. 

c. The tax on real estate. 

17 . What kinds of real estate are exempted from taxation, and 

why ? 

1 8 . What kinds of personal property are exempted, and why ? 


34 THE TOWNSHIP. 

19 . Where must the several kinds of taxes be assessed and 

paid ? Illustrate. 

20 . If a person changes his residence from one town in the state 

to another before May 1, what consequences about taxes 
might follow ? 

21 . How do the assessors ascertain the property for which one 

should be taxed ? 

22 . What difficulties beset the taxation of personal property ? 

23 . Mention a common practice in assigning values to property. 

What is the effect on the tax-rate ? Illustrate. 

24 . How do high taxes operate as a burden ? 

25 . Describe a delusion from which people who directly govern 

themselves are practically free. 

26 . What is the educational value of the town-meeting ? 

27 . What are by-laws ? Explain the phrase. 

28 . What of the power and responsibility of selectmen ? 


§ 2. Origin of the Township. 

It was said above that government by town-meet¬ 
ing is in principle the oldest form of government 
Town-meet- known in the world. The student of ancient 
Greece and history is familiar with the comitia of the 
Rome. Homans and the ecclesia of the Greeks. 
These were popular assemblies, held in those soft cli¬ 
mates in the open air, usually in the market-place, — 
the Roman forum , the Greek agora. The govern¬ 
ment carried on in them was a more or less qualified 
democracy. In the palmy days of Athens it was a 
pure democracy. The assemblies which in the Athe¬ 
nian market-place declared war against Syracuse, or 
condemned Socrates to death, were quite like New 
England town-meetings, except that they exercised 
greater powers because there was no state government 
above them. 

The principle of the town-meeting, however, is 
older than Athens or Rome. Long before streets 
were built or fields fenced in, men wandered about the 



ORIGIN OF THE TOWNSHIP. 


35 


earth hunting for food in family parties, somewhat as 
lions do in South Africa. Such family groups were 
what we call clans , and so far as is known 
they were the earliest form in which civil so¬ 
ciety appeared on the earth. Among all wandering 
or partially settled tribes the clan is to be found, and 
there are ample opportunities for studying it among 
our Indians in North America. The clan usually has 
a chief or head-man, useful mainly as a leader in war¬ 
time ; its civil government, crude and disorderly 
enough, is in principle a pure democracy. 

When our ancestors first became acquainted with 
American Indians, the most advanced tribes lived 
partly by hunting and fishing, but partly also by rais¬ 
ing Indian corn and pumpkins. They had begun to 
live in wigwams grouped together in small villages 
and surrounded by strong rows of palisades for de¬ 
fence. Now what these red men were doing our own 
fair-haired ancestors in northern and central Europe 
had been doing some twenty centuries earlier. The 
Scandinavians and Germans, when first known in his¬ 
tory, had made considerable progress in exchanging a 
wandering for a settled mode of life. When the clan, 
instead of moving from place to place, fixed upon 
some spot for a permanent residence, a village grew 
up there, surrounded by a belt of waste land, or some¬ 
what later by a stockaded wall. The belt of land was 
called a marie, and the wall was called a 

, . „ ’ , . , , , The mark 

tun. 1 Afterwards the inclosed space came to and the 

. , \ . tun. 

be known sometimes as the mark , sometimes 
as the tun or town. In England the latter name pre¬ 
vailed. The inhabitants of a mark or town were a 
stationary clan. It was customary to call them by the 
clan name, as for example “ the Beorings ” or “ the 
1 Pronounced “ toon.” 


36 


THE TOWNSHIP. 


Cressings ; ” then the town would be called Barring* 
ton , 44 town of the Beorings,” or Cressingham, 44 home 
of the Cressings.” Town names of this sort, with 
which the map of England is thickly studded, point 
us back to a time when the town was supposed to be 
the stationary home of a clan. 

The Old English town had its tungemot , or town¬ 
meeting, in which 44 by-laws ” were made and other 
important business transacted. The principal officers 
were the 44 reeve ” or head-man, the 44 bea- 


Engifsif die ” or messenger, and the 44 tithing-man ” 
tow n&inp. petty constable. 


These officers seem at 
first to have been elected by the people, but after a 
while, as great lordships grew up, usurping jurisdic¬ 
tion over the land, the lord’s steward and bailiff came 
to supersede the reeve and beadle. After the Norman 
Conquest the townships, thus brought under the sway 
of great lords, came to be generally known by the 
French name of manoi's or 44 dwelling places.” Much 
might be said about this change, but here it is enough 
for us to bear in mind that a manor was essentially 
a township in which the chief executive officers were 
directly responsible to the lord rather than 

The manor. i T t 

to the people. It would be wrong, however, 
to suppose that the manors entirely lost their self- 
government. Even the ancient town-meeting survived 
in them, in a fragmentary way, in several interesting 
assemblies, of which the most interesting were the 
court leet , for the election of certain officers and the 
trial of petty offences, and the court baron , which was 
much like a town-meeting. 

Still more of the old self-government would doubt¬ 
less have survived in the institutions of the 
manor if it had not been provided for in 
another way. The parish was older than the manor. 


The parish. 



ORIGIN OF THE TOWNSHIP. 


37 


After the English had been converted to Christianity 
local churches were gradually set up all over the coun- 
try, and districts called parishes were assigned for the 
ministrations of the priests. Now a parish generally 
coincided in area with a township, or sometimes with 
a group of two or three townships. In the old heathen 
times each town seems to have had its sacred place or 
shrine consecrated to some local deity, and it was a 
favourite policy with the Roman missionary priests 
to purify the old shrine and turn it into a church. In 
this way the township at the same time naturally be¬ 
came the parish. 

As we find it in later times, both before and since 
the founding of English colonies in North America, 
the township in England is likely to be both 

\ ? J Township, 

a manor and a parish. Jb or some purposes manor, and 
it is the one, for some purposes it is the pan&h 
other. The townsfolk may be regarded as a group of 
tenants of the lord’s manor, or as a group of parish¬ 
ioners of the local church. In the latter aspect the 
parish retained much of the self-government of the 
ancient town. The business with which the lord was 
entitled to meddle was strictly limited, and all other 
business was transacted in the “ vestry-meeting,” 
which was practically the old town-meeting The vestvy . 
under a new name. In the course of the meetlng * 
thirteenth century we find that the parish had acquired 
the right of taxing itself for church purposes. Money 
needed for the church was supplied in the form of 
“ church-rates ” voted by the ratepayers themselves in 
the vestry-meeting, so called because it was originally 
held in a room of the church in which vestments were 
kept. 

The officers of the parish were the constable, the 


38 THE TOWNSHIP. 

parish and vestry clerks, 1 the beadle, 2 the “ way war- 
Parish offi- dens ” or surveyors of highways, the “ hay- 
cers “ wards ” or fence-viewers, the “ common 
drivers,” the collectors of taxes, and at th§ beginning 
of the seventeenth century overseers of the poor were 
added. There were also churchwardens, usually two 
for each parish. Their duties were primarily to take 
care of the church property, assess the rates, and call 
the vestry-meetings. They also acted as overseers of 
the poor, and thus in several ways remind one of the 
selectmen of New England. The parish officers were 
all elected by the ratepayers assembled in vestry¬ 
meeting, except the common driver and hayward, who 
were elected by the same ratepayers assembled in 
court leet. Besides electing parish officers and grant¬ 
ing the rates, the vestry-meeting could enact by-laws ; 
and all ratepayers had an equal voice in its deliber¬ 
ations. 

During the last two centuries the constitution of 
the English parish has undergone some modifications 
which need not here concern us. The Puritans who 
settled in New England had grown up under such 
The transi P aris ^ government as is here described, and 
tion from they were used to hearing* the parish called, 

England to J & * 

New Eng- on some occasions and for some purposes, a 
township. If we remember now that the 
earliest New England towns were founded by church 
congregations, led by their pastors, we can see how 

1 Of these two officers the vestry clerk is the counterpart of 
the New England town-clerk. 

2 Originally a messenger or crier, the beadle came to assume 
some of the functions of the tithing-man or petty constable, 
such as keeping order in church, punishing petty offenders, wait¬ 
ing on the clergyman, etc. In New England towns there were 
formerly officers called tithing-men, who kept order in church, 
arrested tipplers, loafers, and Sabbath-breakers, etc. 


ORIGIN OF THE TOWNSHIP. 


39 


town government in New England originated. It was 
simply the English parish government brought into a 
new country and adapted to the new situation. Part 
of this new situation consisted in the fact that the 
lords of the manor were left behind. There was no 
longer any occasion to distinguish between the town¬ 
ship as a manor and the township as a parish ; and so, 
as the three names had all lived on together, side by 
side, in England, it was now the oldest and most gen¬ 
erally descriptive name, “township,” that survived, 
and has come into use throughout a great part of the 
United States. The townsfolk went on making by¬ 
laws, voting supplies of public money, and electing 
their magistrates in America, after the fashion with 
which they had for ages been familiar in England. 
Some of their offices and customs were of hoary an¬ 
tiquity. If age gives respectability, the office of con¬ 
stable may vie with that of king; and if the annual 
town-meeting is usually held in the month of March, 
it is because in days of old, long before Magna Charta 
was thought of, the rules and regulations for the vil¬ 
lage husbandry were discussed and adopted in time 
for the spring planting. 

To complete our sketch of the origin of the New 
England town, one point should here be briefly men¬ 
tioned in anticipation of what will have to be said 
hereafter; but it is a point of so much importance 
that we need not mind a little repetition in stating it. 

We have seen what a great part taxation plays in 
the business of government, and we shall presently 
have to treat of county, state, and federal Building up 
governments, all of them wider in their Btafces ' 
sphere than the town government. In the course of 
history, as nations have gradually been built up, these 
wider governments have been apt to absorb or sup- 


40 


THE TOWNSHIP. 


plant and crush the narrower governments, such as 
the parish or township; and this process has too often 
been destructive to political freedom. Such a result 
is, of course, disastrous to everybody; and if it were 
unavoidable, it would be better that great national 
governments need never be formed. But it is not un¬ 
avoidable. There is one way of escaping it, and that 
is to give the little government of the town some real 
share in making up the great government of the state. 
That is not an easy thing to do, as is shown by the 
fact that most peoples have failed in the attempt. The 
people who speak the English language have been the 
most successful, and the device by which they have 
Represents overcome the difficulty is Representation. 
tion ’ The town sends to the wider government a 
delegation of persons who can represent the town and 
its people. They can speak for the town, and have a 
voice in the framing of laws and imposition of taxes 
by the wider government. 

In English townships there has been from time 
immemorial a system of representation. Long before 

Alfred’s time there were “shire-motes,” or 

Shire-motes. 

what were afterwards called county meet¬ 
ings, and to these each town sent its reeve and “ four 
discreet men ” as representatives . Thus to a certain 
extent the wishes of the townsfolk could be brought 
to bear upon county affairs. By and by this method 
was applied on a much wider scale. It was applied to 
the whole kingdom, so that the people of all its towns 
and parishes succeeded in securing a representation of 
their interests in an elective national council or House 
of Commons. This great work was accomplished in 
Eari Simon’s ^ ie thirteenth century by Simon de Mont- 
Parliament. f Qr ^ E ar i 0 f Leicester, and was completed 
by Edward I. Simon’s parliament, the first in which 


ORIGIN OF THE TOWNSHIP. 


41 


the Commons were fully represented, was assembled 
in 1265; and the date of Edward’s parliament, which 
has been called the Model Parliament, was 1295. 
These dates have as much interest for Americans as 
for Englishmen, because they mark the first definite 
establishment of that grand system of representative 
government which we are still carrying on at our vari¬ 
ous state capitals and at Washington. For its humble 
beginnings we have to look back to the “ reeve and 
four” sent by the ancient townships to the county 
meetings. 

The English township or parish was thus at an early 
period the “ unit of representation ” in the govern¬ 
ment of the county. It was also a district for the as¬ 
sessment and collection of the national taxes; 
in each parish the assessment was made by unit of rep - 
a board of assessors chosen by popular vote. 

These essential points reappear in the early history 
of New England. The township was not only a self- 
governing body, but it was the “ unit of representa¬ 
tion ” in the colonial legislature, or “ General Court; ” 
and the assessment of taxes, whether for town pur¬ 
poses or for state purposes, was made by assessors 
elected by the townsfolk. In its beginnings and fun¬ 
damentals our political liberty did not originate upon 
American soil, but was brought hither by our fore¬ 
fathers the first settlers. They brought their political 
institutions with them as naturally as they brought 
their language and their social customs. 

Observe now that the township is to be regarded in 
two lights. It must be considered not only in itself, 
but as part of a greater whole. We began by de¬ 
scribing it as a self-governing body, but in order to 
complete our sketch we were obliged to speak of it as 
a body which has a share in the government of the 


42 


THE TOWNSHIP. 


state and the nation. The latter aspect is as impor¬ 
tant as the former. If the people of a town had only 
the power of managing their local affairs, without the 
power of taking part in the management of national 
affairs, their political freedom would be far from com¬ 
plete. In Russia, for example, the larger part of the 
vast population is resident in village communities which 
have to a considerable extent the power of managing 
their local affairs. Such a village community is called 
a mir , and like the English township it is 

The Russian 1 . 

village com- lineally descended from the stationary clan, 
represented The people of the Russian mir hold meetings 
tionai gov- in which they elect sundry local officers, dis¬ 
tribute the burden of local taxation, make 
regulations concerning local husbandry and police, 
and transact other business which need not here con¬ 
cern us. But they have no share in the national 
government, and are obliged to obey laws which they 
have no voice in making, and pay taxes assessed upon 
them without their consent; and accordingly we say 
with truth that the Russian people do not possess 
political freedom. One reason for this has doubtless 
been that in times past the Russian territory was the 
great frontier battle-ground between civilized Europe 
and the wild hordes of western Asia, and the people 
who lived for' ages on that turbulent frontier were 
subjected to altogether too much conquest. They 
have tasted too little of civil government and too much 
of military government, ■— a pennyworth of whole¬ 
some bread to an intolerable deal of sack. The early 
English, in their snug little corner of the world, 
belted by salt sea, were able to develop their civil 
government with less destructive interference. They 
made a sound and healthful beginning when they made 
the township the “unit of representation” for the 


ORIGIN OF THE TOWNSHIP. 


43 


county. Then the township, besides managing its 
own affairs, began to take part in the management of 
wider affairs. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

1. Show that the principle of government by town-meeting 

was known 

a. In ancient Greece and Rome. 

b. Earlier still in primitive society 

c. Among the American Indians. 

d. Among the old Scandinavians and Germans. 

2. Distinguish between the mark and the tun. Illustrate the 

English use of the latter name. 

3. Give an account of the following : — 

a. The English township and its officers before the Conquest. 

b. The changes due to the Conquest. 

c. The survival of self-government in the manor. 

d. The parish and its relation to the township. 

4. Contrast the township as a manor with the township as a par¬ 

ish in respect to government. 

5. Describe the parish government under the following heads : — 

a. The vestry-meeting. 

b. Taxation. 

c. The officers of the parish. 

d. The persons entitled to vote. 

6. Show how town government in New England grew out of 

parish government in Old England. What features were 
retained and what were given up ? 

7. Show the antiquity of some details of town government. 

8. What is the object of representation ? 

9. What were the shire-motes of Alfred’s time ? 

10. What was the origin of the English House of Commons ? 

11. Why should Americans be interested in this English body ? 

12 . What essential points of the English township reappear in 

New England ? 

13. In what two aspects must the township now he regarded ? 

14. Show how in Russia the township presents one of these as¬ 

pects hut lacks the other. 

15. What political result follows from the lack of representation 

in the Russian township ? 

16. Mention one probable reason why England succeeded where 

Russia failed ? 


44 


THE TOWNSHIP. 


SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS. 

1. Obtain the following documents : — 

a. A town warrant. 

b. A town report. 

c. A tax bill, a permit, a certificate, or any town paper that 

has or may have an official signature. 

d. A report of the school committee. 

If you live in a city, send to the clerk of a neighbouring 
town for a warrant, inclosing a stamp for the reply. City 
documents will answer most of the purposes of this exer¬ 
cise. 

Make any of the foregoing documents the basis of a report. 

2 . Give an account of the following : — 

a. The various kinds of taxes raised in your town, the amount 

of each kind, the valuation, the rate, the proposed use 
of the money, etc. 

b. The work of any department of the town government for 

a year, as, for example, that of the overseers of the 
poor. 

c. Any pressing need of your town, public sentiment towards 

it, the probable cost of satisfying it, the obstacles in 
the way of meeting it, etc. 

3. A good way to arouse interest in the subject of town gov¬ 

ernment is to organize the class as a town-meeting, and 
let it discuss live local questions in accordance with arti¬ 
cles in a warrant. For helpful details attend a town- 
meeting, read the record of some meeting, consult some 
person familiar with town proceedings, or study the Gen¬ 
eral Statutes. 

To insure a discussion, it may be necessary at the outset for 
the teacher to assign to the several pupils single points to 
be expanded and presented in order. 

There is an advantage in the teacher’s serving as moderator. 
He may, as teacher, pause to give such directions and 
explanations as may be helpful to young citizens. 

The pupils should be held up to the more obvious require¬ 
ments of parliamentary law, and shown how to use its 
rules to accomplish various purposes. 

4. Has the state a right to direct the education of its youth ? 

If the state has such a right, are there any limits to the 
exercise of it ? Does the right to direct the education of 


ORIGIN OF THE TOWNSHIP. 45 

its youth carry with it the right to abolish private 
schools ? 

5 . Is it wise to assist private educational institutions with pub¬ 

lic funds ? 

6 . Ought teachers, if approved, to be appointed for one year 

only, or during good behaviour ? 

7 . What classes of officers in a town should serve during good 

behaviour ? What classes may be frequently changed 
without injury to the public ? 

8 . Compare the school committee in your own state (if it is not 

Massachusetts) with that in Massachusetts. 

9 . Illustrate from personal knowledge the difference between 

real estate and personal property. 

10 . A loans B $1000. May A be taxed for the $1000 ? Why ? 

May B be taxed for the $1000 ? Why ? Is it right to 
tax both for $1000 ? Suppose B with the money buys 
goods of C. Is it right to tax the three for $1000 
each ? 

11 . A taxpayer worth $100,000 in personal property makes no 

return to the assessors. In their ignorance the assessors 
tax him for $50,000 only, and the tax is paid without 
question. Does the taxpayer act honourably ? 

12 . What difficulties beset the work of the assessors ? 

13 . Would anything be gained by exempting personal property 

from taxation ? If so, what ? Would anything be lost ? 
If so, what ? 

14 . Does any one absolutely escape taxation ? 

15 . Does the poll-tax payer pay, in any sense, more than his poll- 

tax ? 

16 . Are there any taxes that people pay without seeming to know 

it ? If so, what ? (See below, chap. viii. § 8 .). 

17* Have we clans to-day among ourselves ? (Think of family 
reunions, people of the same name in a community, de¬ 
scendants of early settlers, etc.). What important dif¬ 
ferences exist between these modern so-called clans and 
the ancient ones ? 

18 . What is a “ clannish ” spirit ? Is it a good spirit or a bad 

one ? Is it ever the same as patriotism ? 

19 . Look up the meaning of ham , wick, and stead. Think of 

towns whose names contain these words ; also of towns 
whose names contain the word tun or ton or town. 

20 . Give an account of the tithing-man in early New England. 


46 THE TOWNSHIP. 

21 . In what sense is the word “ parish ” commonly used in the 

United States ? Is the parish the same as the church ? 
Has it any limits of territory ? 

22. In Massachusetts, clergymen were formerly paid out of the 

taxes of the township. How did this come about ? In 
this practice was there a union or a separation of church 
and state ? 

23. Ministers are not now supported by taxation in the United 

States. What important change in the parish idea does 
this fact indicate ? Is it a change for the better ? 

24. Are women who do not vote represented in town govern¬ 

ment ? 

25. Are boys and girls represented in town government ? 

26. Is there anybody in a town who is not represented in its gov¬ 

ernment ? 

27. How are citizens of a town represented in state govern¬ 

ment ? 

28. How are citizens of a town represented in the national gov¬ 

ernment ? 

29. Imagine a situation in which the ballot of a single voter in 

a town might affect the action of the national govern¬ 
ment. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 


§ 1. The New England Township. There is a good ac¬ 
count in Martin’s Text Book on Civil Government in the United 
States. N. Y. & Chicago, 1875 . 

§ 2. Origin of the Township. Here the Johns Hopkins 
University Studies in Historical and Political Science , edited by 
Dr. Herbert Adams, are of great value. Note especialty series 
I. no. i. E. A. Freeman, Introduction to American Institutional 
History ; I., ii. iv. viii. ix.-x. H. B. Adams, The Germanic Origin 
of New England Towns, Saxon Tithing-Men in America, Norman 
Constables in America, Village Communities of Cape Ann and Sa¬ 
lem ; II., x. Edward Channing, Town and County Government in 
the English, Colonies of North America; IV., xi.-xii. Melville 
Egleston, The Land System of the New England Colonies ; VTI., 
vii.-ix. C. M. Andrews, The River Towns of Connecticut. 




ORIGIN OF THE TOWNSHIP. 


47 


See also Howard’s Local Constitutional History of the United 
States , vol. i. “ Township, Hundred, and Shire,” Baltimore, 
1889, a work of extraordinary merit. 

The great book on local self-government in England is Toul- 
min Smith’s The Parish, 2d ed., London, 1859. For the an¬ 
cient history of the township, see Gomme’s Primitive Folk-Moots, 
London, 1880 ; Gomme’s Village Community , London, 1890 ; 
Seebohm’s English Village Community, London, 1883 ; Nasse’s 
Agricultural Community of the Middle Ages, London, 1872 ; La- 
veleye’s Primitive Property, London, 1878; Phear’s Aryan Village 
in India and Ceylon, London, 1880; Hearn (of the University of 
Melbourne, Australia), The Aryan Household, London & Mel¬ 
bourne, 1879 ; and the following works of Sir Henry Maine: 
Ancient Law, London, 1861; Village Communities in the East and 
West, London, 1871; Early History of Institutions, London, 1875; 
Early Law and Custom, London, 1883. All of Maine’s works 
are republished in New York. See also my American Political 
Ideas, N. Y., 1885. 

Gomme’s Literature of Local Institutions, London, 1886, con¬ 
tains an extensive bibliography of the subject, with valuable crii> 
ical notes and comments. 


CHAPTER ni. 


THE COUNTY. 

§ 1. The County in its Beginnings. 

It is now time for us to treat of the county, and we 
may as well begin by considering its origin. In treat¬ 
ing of the township we began by sketching it in its 
fullest development, as seen in New England. With 
the county we shall find it helpful to pursue a differ¬ 
ent method and start at the beginning. 

If we look at the maps of the states which make up 
our Union, we see that they are all divided into coun¬ 
ties (except that in Louisiana the corresponding divi¬ 
sions are named parishes). The map of England 
shows that country as similarly divided into coun¬ 
ties. 

If we ask why this is so, some people will tell us 
that it is convenient, for purposes of admin- 

Why do . . r r 

we have istration, to have a state, or a kingdom, di- 

counties ? . . 5 , 

vided into areas that are larger than single 
towns. There is much truth in this. It is convenient. 
If it were not so, counties would not have survived, so 
as to make a part of our modern maps. Neverthe¬ 
less, this is not the historic reason why we have the 
particular kind of subdivisions known as counties. 
We have them because our fathers and grandfathers 
had them; and thus, if we would find out the true 
reason, we may as well go back to the ancient times 


THE COUNTY IN ITS BEGINNINGS. 49 


when our forefathers were establishing themselves in 
England. 

We have seen how the clan of our barbarous ances¬ 
tors, when it became stationary , was established as the 
town or township. But in those early times clans were 
generally united more or less closely into tribes, 
Among all primitive or barbarous races of men, so far 
as we can make out, society is organized in Clan8 and 
tribes, and each tribe is made up of a nunu tribes ’ 
ber of clans or family groups. Now when our Eng¬ 
lish forefathers conquered Britain they settled there as 
clans and also as tribes. The clans became townships, 
and the tribes became shires or counties; that is to 
say, the names were applied first to the people and 
afterwards to the land they occupied. A few of the 
oldest county names in England still show this plainly. 
Essex, Middlesex , and Sussex were originally “ East 
Saxons,” “ Middle Saxons,” and “ South Saxons ; ” 
and on the eastern coast two tribes of Angles were 
distinguished as “ North folk ” and “ South folk,” or 
Norfolk and Suffolk . When you look on the map 
and see the town of Icklingham in the county of Suf¬ 
folk, it means that this place was once known as the 
“ home ” of the “ Icklings ” or “ children of Ickel,” a 
clan which formed part of the tribe of “ South folk.” 

In those days there was no such thing as a King¬ 
dom of England ; there were only these 
groups of tribes living side by side. Each 
tribe had its leader, whose title was ealdor- 
man} or “ elder man.” After a while, as 
some tribes increased in size and power, 
their ealdormen took the title of kings. The little king¬ 
doms coincided sometimes with a single shire, some- 

1 The pronunciation was probably something like yawl-dor - 


The English 
nation, like 
the Ameri¬ 
can, grew 
out of the . 
union of 
small states. 


50 


THE COUNTY. 


times with two or more shires. Thus there was a king* 
dom of Kent, and the North and South Folk were 
combined in a kingdom of East Anglia. In course of 
time numbers of shires combined into larger king¬ 
doms, such as Northumbria, Mercia, and the West 
Saxons ; and finally the king of the West Saxons 
became king of all England, and the several shires 
became subordinate parts or “ shares ” of the kingdom. 
In England, therefore, the shires are older than the 
nation. The shires were not made by dividing the 
nation, but the nation was made by uniting the shires. 
The English nation, like the American, grew out of 
the union of little states that had once been independ¬ 
ent of one another, but had many interests in com¬ 
mon. For not less than three hundred years after all 
England had been united under one king, these shires 
retained their self-government almost as completely as 
the several states of the American Union. 1 A few 
words about their government will not be wasted, for 
they will help to throw light upon some' things that 
still form a part of our political and social life. 

The shire was governed by the shire-mote (i. e. 
Shire mote “ meeting ”), which was a representative 
eaidorman,’ body. Lords of lands, including abbots and 

and sheriff. . _ _ . 0 

priors, attended it, as well as the reeve and 
four selected men from each township. There were 
thus the germs of both the kind of representation that 
is seen in the House of Lords and the much more per¬ 
fect kind that is seen in the House of Commons. Af¬ 
ter a while, as cities and boroughs grew in importance, 
they sent representative burghers to the shire-mote. 
There were two presiding officers ; one was the ealdor- 
man , who was now appointed by the king; the other 
was the shire-reeve (i. e. “ sheriff ”), who was still 
elected by the people and generally held office for life. 

1 Chalmers, Local Government , p. 90. 


THE COUNTY IN ITS BEGINNINGS. 51 


This shire-mote was both a legislative body and a 
court of justice. It not only made laws for the shire, 
but it tried civil and criminal causes. After the Nor¬ 
man Conquest some changes occurred. The shire now 
began to be called by the French name “county,” 
because of its analogy to the small pieces of territory 
on the Continent that were governed by “ counts.” 1 
The shire-mote became known as the county The county 
court, but cases coming before it were tried court * 
by the king’s justices in eyre , or circuit judges, who 
went about from county to county to preside over 
the judicial work. The office of ealdorman became 
extinct. The sheriff was no longer elected by the 
people for life, but appointed by the king for the term 
of one year. This kept him strictly responsible to 
the king. It was the sheriff’s duty to see that the 
county’s share of the national taxes was duly col¬ 
lected and paid over to the national treasury. The 
sheriff also summoned juries and enforced the judg¬ 
ments of the courts, and if he met with resistance in 
so doing he was authorized to call out a force of men, 
known as the posse comitatus (i. e. “power of the 
county ”), and overcome all opposition. Another county 
officer was the coroner , or crowner , 2 so 

. .... . . The coroner. 

called because originally (in Alfred s time) 
he was appointed by the king, and was especially the 
crown officer in the county. Since the time of Ed¬ 
ward I., however, coroners have been elected by the 
people. Originally coroners held small courts of in¬ 
quiry upon cases of wreckage, destructive fires, or 
sudden death, but in course of time their jurisdiction 
became confined to the last-named class of cases. If 

1 Originally cofnites, or “ companions ” of the king. 

2 This form of the word, sometimes supposed to be a vulgar¬ 
ism, is as correct as the other. See Skeat, Etym. Diet., s. v. 


52 


THE COUNTY. 


a death occurred under circumstances in any way mys¬ 
terious or likely to awaken suspicion, it was the business 
of the coroner, assisted by not less than twelve jurors 
(i. e. “ sworn men ”), to hold an inquest for the pur¬ 
pose of ascertaining the cause of death. The coroner 
could compel the attendance of witnesses and order a 
medical examination of the body, and if there were 
sufficient evidence to charge any person with murder 
or manslaughter, the coroner could have such person 
arrested and committed for trial. 

Another important county officer was the justice of 
justices of the peace. Originally six were appointed by 
the peace. the crown in each county, but in later times 
any number might be appointed. The office was 
created by a series of statutes in the reign of Edward 
III., in order to put a stop to the brigandage which 
still flourished in England; it was a common practice 
for robbers to seize persons and hold them for ransom. 1 
By the last of these statutes, in 1362, the justices of 
the peace in each county were to hold a court four 
times in the year. The powers of this court, which 
came to be known as the Quarter Sessions, were from 
time to time increased by act of parliament, until it quite 
The Quarter supplanted the old county court. In modern 
Sessions. times the Quarter Sessions has become an 
administrative body quite as much as a court. The 
justices, who receive no salary, hold office for life, or 
during good behaviour. They appoint the chief con¬ 
stable of the county, who appoints the police. They 
also take part in the supervision of highways and 
bridges, asylums and prisons. Since the reign of 
Henry VIII., the English county has had an officer 
The lord- known as the lord-lieutenant, who was once 
lieutenant. l eac l er 0 f the county militia, but whose func- 

1 Longman’s Life and Times of Edward III ., vol. i. p. 301. 


THE COUNTY IN ITS BEGINNINGS. 53 


tions to-clay are those of keeper of the records and 
principal justice of the peace. 

During the past five hundred years the English 
county has gradually sunk from a self-governing com¬ 
munity into an administrative district; and in recent 
times its boundaries have been so crossed and cris- 
crossed with those of other administrative areas, such 
as those of school-boards, sanitary boards, etc., that 
very little of the old county is left in recognizable 
shape. Most of this change has been effected since 
the Tudor period. The first English settlers in Amer¬ 
ica were familiar with the county as a district for the 
administration of justice, and they brought Beginnings 
with them coroners, sheriffs, and quarter SimSST’ 
sessions. In 1635 the General Court of Mas- counfcies * 
sachusetts appointed four towns — Boston, Cam¬ 
bridge, Salem, and Ipswich — as places where courts 
should be held quarterly. In 1643 the colony, which 
then included as much of New Hampshire as was set¬ 
tled, was divided into four “ shires,” — Suffolk, Essex, 
Middlesex, and Norfolk, the latter lying then to the 
northward and including the New Hampshire towns. 
The militia was then organized, perhaps without con¬ 
sciousness of the analogy, after a very old English 
fashion ; the militia of each town formed a company, 
and the companies of the shire formed a regiment. 
The county was organized from the beginning as a 
judicial district, with its ‘court-house, jail, and sheriff. 
After 1697 the court, held by the justices of the peace, 
was called the Court of General Sessions. It could 
try criminal causes not involving the penalty of death 
or banishment, and civil causes in which the value at 
stake was less than forty shillings. It also had con¬ 
trol over highways going from town to town; and it 
apportioned the county taxes among the several towns. 


54 


THE COUNTY . 


The justices and sheriff were appointed by the gov¬ 
ernor, as in England by the king. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

1. Why do we have counties in the United States ? Contrast 

the popular reason with the historic. 

2 . What relation did the tribe hold to the clan among our am 

cestors ? 

3 . In time what did the clans and the tribes severally become ? 

4 . Show how old county names in England throw light on the 

county development. 

5 . Trace the growth of the English nation in accordance with 

the following outline : — 

a. Each tribe and its leader. 

b. A powerful tribe and its leader. 

c. The relation of a little kingdom to the shire. 

d. The final union under one king. 

e. The relative ages of the shire and the nation. 

6 . Give an account ( 1 ) of the shire-mote, ( 2 ) of the two kinds 

of representation in it, (3) of its presiding officers, and 
(4) of its two kinds of duties. 

7 . Let the pupil make written analyses or outlines of tlio fol¬ 

lowing topics, to be used by him in presenting the topics 
orally, or to be passed in to the teacher : — 

a. What changes took place in the government of the shire 

after the Norman Conquest ? 

b. Trace the development of the coroner’s office. 

c. Give an account of the justices of the peace and the courts 

held by them. 

d. Show what applications the English settlers in Massachu¬ 

setts made of their knowledge of the English county. 

§ 2. The Modern County in Massachusetts . 

The modern county system of Massachusetts may 
now be very briefly described. The county, like the 
town, is a corporation ; it can hold property and sue or 
be sued. It builds the court-house and jail, and keeps 
them in repair. The town in which these buildings 
are placed is called, as in England, the shire town. 

In each county there are three commissioners, 


MODERN COUNTY IN MASSACHUSETTS. 55 


elected by the people. Their term of service is three 
years, and one goes out each year. These commis¬ 
sioners represent the county in law-suits, as the select¬ 
men represent the town. They “ apportion the county com- 
county taxes among the towns; ” “ lay out, missioner8 - 
alter, and discontinue highways within the county;” 
“have charge of houses of correction;” and erect 
and keep in repair the county buildings. 1 

The revenues of the county are derived partly from 
taxation and partly from the payment of fines and 
costs in the courts. These revenues are re- County 
ceived and disbursed by the county treasurer, treasurer * 
who is elected by the people for a term of three years. 

The Superior Court of the state holds at least two 
sessions annually in each county, and tries civil and 
criminal causes^ There is also in each county a pro¬ 
bate court with jurisdiction over all matters 
relating to wills, administration of estates, 
and appointment of guardians ; it also acts as a court 
of insolvency. The custody of wills and documents 
relating to the business of this court is in the hands 
of an officer known as the register of probate, who is 
elected by the people for a term of five years. 

To preserve the records of all land-titles and trans¬ 
fers of land within the county, all deeds and mort¬ 
gages are registered in an office in the shire 

® . Shire town 

town, usually within or attached to the court- and court¬ 
house. The register of deeds is an officer , 
elected by the people for a term of three years. In 
counties where there is much business there may be 
more than one. 

Justices of the peace are appointed by the governor 
for a term of seven years, and the appoint- Jus ti C e 8 of 
ment may be renewed. Their functions have the peace * 

1 Martin’s Civil Government , p. 197. 


56 


THE COUNTY. 


been greatly curtailed, and now amount to little more 
than administering oaths, and in some cases issuing 
warrants and taking bail. They may join persons in 
marriage, and, when specially commissioned as “ trial 
justices,” have criminal jurisdiction over sundry petty 
offences. 

The sheriff is elected by the people for a term of 
three years. He may appoint deputies, for whom he 
is responsible, to assist him in his work, He must 
attend all county courts, and the meetings of the 
county commissioners whenever required. 
He must inflict, either personally or by dep¬ 
uty, the sentence of the court, whether it be fine, im¬ 
prisonment, or death. He is responsible for the preser¬ 
vation of the peace within the countjr, and to this end 
must pursue criminals and may arrest disorderly per¬ 
sons. If he meets with resistance he may call out 
the posse comitatus; if the resistance grows into 
insurrection he may apply to the governor and obtain 
the aid of the state militia ; if the insurrection proves 
too formidable to be thus dealt with, the governor 
may in his behalf apply to the president of the United 
States for aid from the regular army. In this way 
the force that may be drawn upon, if necessary, for 
the suppression of disorder in a single locality, is 
practically unlimited and irresistible. 

We have now obtained a clear outline view of the 
township and county in themselves and in their rela¬ 
tion to one another, with an occasional glimpse of their 
relation to the state; in so far, at least, as such a 
view can be gained from a reference to the history of 
England and of Massachusetts. We must next trace 
the development of local government in other parts of 
the United States; and in doing so we can advance 
at somewhat quicker pace, not because our subject 


THE OLD VIRGINIA COUNTY. 


57 


becomes in any wise less important or less interesting, 
but because we have already marked out the ground 
and said things of general application which will not 
need to be said over again. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

Give an account of the modern county in Massachusetts under 
the following heads : — 

1. The county a corporation. 

2 . The county commissioners and their duties. 

3 . The county treasurer and his duties. 

4 . The courts held in a county. 

5 . The shire town and the court-house. 

6 . The register of deeds and his duties. 

7 . Justices of the peace and trial justices. 

8 . The sheriff and his duties. 

9 . The force at the sheriff’s disposal to suppress disorder. 

§ 3 . The Old Virginia County . 

By common consent of historians, the two most dis¬ 
tinctive and most characteristic lines of development 
which English forms of government have followed, in 
propagating themselves throughout the United States, 
are the two lines that have led through New England 
on the one hand and through Virginia on the other. 
We have seen what shape local government assumed 
in New England ; let us now observe what shape it 
assumed in the Old Dominion. 

The first point to be noticed in the early settlement 
of Virginia is that people did not live so near together 
as in New England. This was because tobacco, culti¬ 
vated on large estates, was a source of wealth. To¬ 
bacco drew settlers to Virginia as in later 
days gold drew settlers to California and sparsely 

a ,. r™ • -i settled. 

Australia. I hey came not m organized 
groups or congregations, but as a multitude of indi¬ 
viduals. Land was granted to individuals, and some- 


58 


THE COUNTY. 


times these grants were of enormous extent. “John 
Bolling, who died in 1757, left an estate of 40,000 
acres, and this is not mentioned as an extraordinary 
amount of lai^d for one man to own.” 1 From an 
early period it was customary to keep these great 
estates together by entailing them, and this continued 
until entails were abolished in 1776 through the influ¬ 
ence of Thomas Jefferson. 

A glance at the map of Virginia shows to what a 
remarkable degree it is intersected by navigable rivers. 
This fact made it possible for plantations, even at a 
Absence of l° n g distance from the coast, to have each 
towns. its own private wharf, where a ship from 

England could unload its cargo of tools, cloth, or 
furniture, and receive a cargo of tobacco in return. 
As the planters were thus supplied with most of the 
necessaries of life, there was no occasion for the kind 
of trade that builds up towns. Even in compara¬ 
tively recent times the development of town life in 
Virginia has been very slow. In 1880, out of 246 
cities and towns in the United States with a popula¬ 
tion exceeding 10,000, there were only six in Virginia. 

The cultivation of tobacco upon large estates caused 
a great demand for cheap labour, and this was supplied 
partly by bringing negro slaves from Africa, partly 
by bringing criminals from English jails. The latter 
were sold into slavery for a limited term of 
years, and were known as “ indentured white 
servants.” So great was the demand for labour that 
it became customary to kidnap poor friendless wretches 
on the streets of seaport towns in England and ship 
them off to Virginia to be sold into servitude. At 
first these white servants were more numerous than 

1 Edward Charming, “ Town and County Government,” in 
Johns Hopkins University Studies , vol. ii. p. 467. 


THE OLD VIRGINIA COUNTY. 


59 


the negroes, but before the end of the seventeenth 
century the blacks had come to be much the more nu¬ 
merous. 

In this rural community th<T owners of plantations 
came from the same classes of society as the settlers 
of New England; they were for the most part country 
squires and yeomen. But while in New Eng- 

i iii i , „ . Social posi- 

land there was no lower class of society tion of set- 

tiers* 

sharply marked off from the upper, on the 
other hand in Virginia there was an insurmountable 
distinction between the owners of plantations and the 
so-called “ mean whites ” or “ white trash.” This 
class was originally formed of men and women who 
had been indentured white servants, and was increased 
by such shiftless people as now and then found their 
way to the colony, but could not win estates or ob¬ 
tain social recognition. With such a sharp division 
between classes, an aristocratic type of society was 
developed in Virginia as naturally as a democratic 
type was developed in New England. 

In Virginia there were no town-meetings. The dis¬ 
tances between plantations cooperated with the dis¬ 
tinction between classes to prevent the growth of such 
an institution. The English parish, with its Virginia par- 
churchwardens and vestry and clerk, was re- lshes ‘ 
produced in Virginia under the same name, but with 
some noteworthy peculiarities. If the whole body of 
ratepayers had assembled in vestry meeting, to enact 
by-laws and assess taxes, the course of development 
would have been like that of the New England town¬ 
meeting. But instead of this the vestry, which exer¬ 
cised the chief authority in the parish, was composed 
of twelve chosen men. This was not government by a 
primary assembly, it was representative government. 
At first the twelve vestrymen were elected by the peo- 


60 


THE COUNTY . 


pie of the parish, and thus resembled the selectmen 
of New England; but after a while “ they obtained 
the power of filling vacancies in their own 
a close ^ number,” so that they became what is called 
corporation. ^ a c i oge corporation,” and the people had 

nothing to do with choosing them. Strictly speaking, 
that was not representative government; it was a step 
on the road that leads towards oligarchical or despotic 
government. 

It was the vestry, thus constituted, that apportioned 
the parish taxes, appointed the churchwardens, pre- 
Powers of sented the minister for induction into office, 
the vestry. an( j acted as overseers of the poor. The 
minister presided in all vestry meetings. His salary 
was paid in tobacco, and in 1696 it was fixed by law 
at 16,000 pounds of tobacco yearly. In many parishes 
the churchwardens were the collectors of the parish 
taxes. The other officers, such as the sexton and the 
parish clerk, were appointed either by the minister or 
by the vestry. 

With the local government thus administered, we 
see that the larger part of the people had little di¬ 
rectly to do. Nevertheless in these small neighbour¬ 
hoods government was in full sight of the people. Its 
proceedings went on in broad daylight and were sus¬ 
tained by public sentiment. As Jefferson said, “ The 
vestrymen are usually the most discreet farmers, so 
distributed through the parish that every part of it 
may be under the immediate eye of some one of them. 
They are well acquainted with the details and economy 
of private life, and they find sufficient inducements to 
execute their charge well, in their philanthropy, in the 
approbation of their neighbours, and the distinction 
which that gives them.” 1 

1 See Howard, Local Constitutional History of the United States , 
vol. i. p. 122. 


THE OLD VIRGINIA COUNTY. 


61 


The difference, however, between the New England 
township and the Virginia parish, in respect of self- 
government, was striking enough. We have now to 
note a further difference. In New England, as we 
have seen, the township was the unit of representation 
in the colonial legislature; but in Virginia the parish 
was not the unit of representation. The county was 
that unit. In the colonial legislature of Vir- The county 
ginia the representatives sat not for parishes, 
but for counties. The difference is very sig- tation - 
nificant. As the political life of New England was 
in a manner built up out of the political life of the 
towns, so the political life of Virginia was built up 
out of the political life of the counties. This was 
partly because the vast plantations were not grouped 
about a compact village nucleus like the small farms 
at the North, and partly because there was not in Vir¬ 
ginia that Puritan theory of the church according to 
which each congregation is a self-governing democ¬ 
racy. The conditions which made the New England 
town-meeting were absent. The only alternative was 
some kind of representative government, and for this 
the county was a small enough area. The county in 
Virginia was much smaller than in Massachusetts or 
Connecticut. In a few instances the county consisted 
of only a single parish; in some cases it was divided 
into two parishes, but oftener into three or more. 

In Virginia, as in England and in New England, 
the county was an area for the administration of justice. 
There were usually in each county eight jus¬ 
tices of the peace, and their court was the court was 
counterpart of the Quarter Sessions in Eng- close corpo- 
land. They were appointed by the governor, 
but it was customary for them to nominate candidates 
for the governor to appoint, so that practically the 


62 


THE COUNTY. 


court filled its own vacancies and was a close corpora¬ 
tion, like the parish vestry. Such an arrangement 
tended to keep the general supervision and control of 
things in the hands of a few families. 

This county court usually met as often as once a 
month in some convenient spot answering to the shire 
town of England or New England. More often than 
not the place originally consisted of the court-house 
and very little else, and was named accordingly from 
the name of the county, as Hanover Court House or 
Fairfax Court House ; and the small shire towns that 
have grown up in such spots often retain these names 
The county I° the present day. Such names occur com- 
g*? monly in Virginia, West Virginia, and South 
House. Carolina, very rarely in Kentucky, North 
Carolina, Alabama, Ohio, and perhaps occasionally 
elsewhere. 1 Their number has diminished from the 
tendency to omit the phrase “ Court House,” leaving 
the name of the county for that of the shire town, as 
for example in Culpeper, Va. In New England the 
process of naming has been just the reverse; as in 
Hartford County, Conn., or Worcester County, Mass., 
which have taken their names from the shire towns. 
In this, as in so many cases, whole chapters of history 
are wrapped up in geographical names. 2 

The county court in Virginia had jurisdiction in 
criminal actions not involving peril of life or limb, 
and in civil suits where the sum at stake exceeded 

1 In Mitchell’s Atlas, 1883, the number of cases is in Va. 38, 
W. Va. 13, S. C. 16, N. C. 2, Ala. 1, Ky. 1, Ohio, 1. 

2 A few of the oldest Virginia counties, organized as such in 
1634, had arisen from the spreading and thinning of single set¬ 
tlements originally intended to be cities and named accordingly. 
Hence the curious names (at first sight unintelligible) of “ James 
City County,” and “ Charles City County.” 


THE OLD VIRGINIA COUNTY. 


63 


twenty-five shillings. Smaller suits could be tried by 
a single justice. The court .also had charge Power80f 
of the probate and administration of wills. thecourt - 
The court appointed its own clerk, who kept the 
county records. It superintended the construction and 
repair of bridges and highways, and for this purpose 
divided the county into “ precincts,” and appointed 
annually for each precinct a highway surveyor. The 
court also seems to have appointed constables, one for 
each precinct. The justices could themselves act as 
coroners, but annually two or more coroners for each 
parish were appointed by the governor. As we have 
seen that the parish taxes — so much for salaries of 
minister and clerk, so much for care of church build¬ 
ings, so much for relief of the poor, etc. — were com¬ 
puted and assessed by the vestry; so the county taxes, 
for care of court-house and jail, roads and bridges, 
coroner’s fees, and allowances to the representatives 
sent to the colonial legislature, were computed and 
assessed by the county court. The general taxes for 
the colony were estimated by a committee of the legis¬ 
lature, as well as the county’s share of the colony 
tax. The taxes for the county, and sometimes the 
taxes for the parish also, were collected by the sheriff. 
They were usually paid, not in money, but in tobacco; 
and the sheriff was the custodian of this ^ _ 

tobacco, responsible for its proper disposal. 

The sheriff was thus not only the officer for executing 
the judgments of the court, but he was also county 
treasurer and collector, and thus exercised powers al¬ 
most as great as those of the sheriff in England in the 
twelfth century. He also presided over elections for 
representatives to the legislature. It is interesting to 
observe how this very important officer was chosen. 
66 Each year the court presented the names of three of 


64 


THE COUNTY. 


its members to the governor, who appointed one, gen- 
erally the senior justice, to be the sheriff of the county 
for the ensuing year.” 1 Here again we see this close 
corporation, the county court, keeping the control of 
things within its own hands. 

One other important county officer needs to be men¬ 
tioned. We have seen that in early New England 
each town had its train-band or company of militia, 
and that the companies in each county united to form 
the county regiment. In Virginia it was just the other 
way. Each county raised a certain number of troops, 
and because it was not convenient for the men to go 
many miles from home in assembling for purposes of 
drill, the county was subdivided into military districts, 
each with its company, according to rules laid down 
by the governor. The military command in each 
The county county was vested in the county lieutenant, 
lieutenant. an 0 ffi cer answering in many respects to the 
lord lieutenant of the English shire at that period. 
Usually he was a member of the governor’s council, 
and as such exercised sundry judicial functions. He 
bore the honorary title of “ colonel,” and was to some 
extent regarded as the governor’s deputy; but in later 
times his duties were confined entirely to military 
matters. 2 

If now we sum up the contrasts between local gov¬ 
ernment in Virginia and that in New England, we 
observe: — 

1. That in New England the management of local 
affairs was mostly in the hands of town officers, the 

1 Edward Channing, op. cit. p. 478. 

2 For an excellent account of local government in Virginia 
before the Revolution, see Howard, Local Const. Hist, of the U. 
S. f vol. i. pp. 388-407 ; also Edward Ingle in Johns Hopkins 
Univ. Studies , III., ii.~iii. 


THE OLD VIRGINIA COUNTY. 


65 


county being superadded for certain purposes, chiefly 
judicial; while in Virginia the management was chiefly 
in the hands of county officers, though certain func¬ 
tions, chiefly ecclesiastical, were reserved to the parish. 

2. That in New England the local magistrates were 
almost always, with the exception of justices, chosen 
by the people; while in Virginia, though some of 
them were nominally appointed by the governor, yet 
in practice they generally contrived to appoint them¬ 
selves— in other words the local boards practically 
filled their own vacancies and were self-perpetuating. 

These differences are striking and profound. There 
can be no doubt that, as Thomas Jefferson clearly 
saw, in the long run the interests of political liberty 
are much safer under the New England system than 
under the Virginia system. Jefferson said, Jefferson’s 
“ Those wards, called townships in New Eng- 
land, are the vital principle of their govern- government 
ments, and have proved themselves the wisest inven¬ 
tion ever devised by the wit of man for the perfect 
exercise of self-government, and for its preservation. 1 
. . . As Cato, then, concluded every speech with the 
words Carthago clelenda est , so do I every opinion 
with the injunction: ‘ Divide the counties into 

wards ! ’ ” 2 

We must, however, avoid the mistake of making 
too much of this contrast. As already hinted, in 
those rural societies where people generally knew one 
another, its effects were not so far-reaching as they 
would be in the more complicated society of to-day. 
Even though Virginia had not the town-meeting, “ it 
had its familiar court-day,” which “ was a «< Court _ 
holiday for all the country-side, especially in day ’’ 
the fall and spring. From all directions came in the 

1 .Jefferson’s Works, vii. 13. 2 Id., vi. 544. 


66 


THE COUNTY. 


people on horseback, in wagons, and afoot. On the 
court-house green assembled, in indiscriminate confu¬ 
sion, people of all classes, — the hunter from the back- 
woods, the owner of a few acres, the grand proprietor, 
and the grinning, heedless negro. Old debts were set¬ 
tled, and new ones made; there were auctions, trans¬ 
fers of property, and, if election times were near, 
stump-speaking.” 1 

For seventy years or more before the Declaration of 
Independence the matters of general public concern, 
about which stump speeches were made on Virginia 
court-days, were very similar to those that were dis¬ 
cussed in Massachusetts town-meetings when represen¬ 
tatives were to be chosen for the legislature. Such 
questions generally related to some real or alleged 
encroachment upon popular liberties by the royal gov¬ 
ernor, who, being appointed and sent from beyond sea, 
was apt to have ideas aiid purposes of his own that 
conflicted with those of the people. This perpetual 
antagonism to the governor, who represented British 
imperial interference with American local self-govern¬ 
ment, was an excellent schooling in political liberty, 
alike for Virginia and for Massachusetts. When the 
stress of the Revolution came, these two leading colo¬ 
nies cordially supported each other, and their political 
characteristics were reflected in the kind of achieve¬ 
ments for which each was especially distinguished. 
The Virginia system, concentrating the administration 
of local affairs in the hands of a few county families, 
was eminently favourable for developing 
leaders great and v % orous leadership. And while 

in the history of Massachusetts during the 
Revolution we are chiefly impressed with the wonderful 
degree in which the mass of the people exhibited the 
1 Ingle, loc. cit. 


THE OLD VIRGINIA COUNTY. 


6? 


kind of political training that nothing in the world ex¬ 
cept the habit of parliamentary discussion can impart; 
on the other hand, Virginia at that time gave us — 
in Washington, Jefferson, Henry, Madison, and Mar¬ 
shall, to mention no others — such a group of consum¬ 
mate leaders as the world has seldom seen equalled. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

1. Why was Virginia more sparsely settled than Massachusetts ? 

2. Why was it that towns were built up more slowly in Virginia 

than in Massachusetts ? 

3. How was the great demand for labour in Virginia met ? 

4. What distinction of classes naturally arose ? 

5. Contrast the type of society thus developed in Virginia with 

that developed in New England. 

6. Compare the Virginia parish in its earlier government with 

the English parish from which it was naturally copied. 

7. Show how the vestry became a close corporation. 

8. Who were usually chosen as vestrymen, and what were their 

powers ? 

9. Compare Virginia’s unit of representation in the colonial 

legislature with that of Massachusetts, and give the rea¬ 
son for the difference. 

10. Describe the county court, showing in particular how it be¬ 

came a close corporation. 

11. Brino-out some of the history wrapped up in the names of 

county seats. 

12. What were the chief powers of the county court ? 

13. Describe the assessment of the various taxes. 

14. What were the sheriff’s duties ? 

15. Describe the organization and command of the militia in 

each county. 

16. Sum up the differences between local government in Virginia 

and that in New England ( 1 ) as to the management of 
local affairs and (2) as to the choice of local officers. 

17. What did Jefferson think of the principle of township gov¬ 

ernment ? 

18. What was the equivalent in Virginia of the New England 

town-meeting ? 

19. What was the value of this frequent assembling? 

20. What schooling in political liberty before the Revolution did 

Virginia and Massachusetts alike have ? 


68 


THE COUNTY . 


21. What was an impressive feature of the New England 

system ? 

22. What was an impressive feature of the Virginia system? 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS. 

1. How many counties are there in your state ? 

2. Name and place them if the number is small. 

3. In what county do you live ? 

4. Give its dimensions. Are they satisfactory ? Why ? 

5. Give its boundaries. 

6. Is there anything interesting in the meaning or origin of its 

name ? 

7. How many towns and cities does it contain ? 

8. What is the county seat ? Is it conveniently situated ? Rea¬ 

sons for thinking so ? 

9. If convenient, visit any county building, note the uses to 

which it is put, and report such facts as may be thus 
found out. 

10. Obtain a deed, no matter how old, and answer these ques¬ 

tions about it: — 

a. Is it recorded ? If so, where ? 

b. Would it be easy for you to find the record ? 

c. Why should such a record be kept ? 

d. What officer has charge of such records ? 

e. What sort of work must he and his assistants do ? 

f. The place of such records is called what ? 

g. What sort of facilities for the public should such a place 
have ? What safety precautions should be observed 
there ? 

Ti. Why should the county keep such records rather than the 
city or the town ? 

t. Is there a record of the deed by which the preceding owner 
came into possession of the property ? 
j. What sort of title did the first owner have ? Is there 
any record of it ? Was the first owner Indian or Euro¬ 
pean ? 

(The teacher might obtain a deed and base a class exercise 
upon it. It is easy with a deed for a text to lead pupils to see 
the common-sense basis of an important county institution, and 
thereafter to give very sensible views as to what it should be, 
even if it is not fully known what it is.) 

11. Is there a local court for your town or city ? 


THE OLD VIRGINIA COUNTY. 69 

12 . How do its cases compare in magnitude with those tried at 

the county seat ? 

13. If a man steals and is prosecuted, who becomes the plaintiff ? 

14. If a man owes and is sued for debt, who becomes the plain¬ 

tiff ? 

15. What is a criminal action ? 

16. What is a civil action ? 

17. What is the result to the defendant in the former case, if he 

is convicted ? 

18. What is the result to the defendant in the latter case, if the 

decision is against him ? 

19. Is lying a crime or a sin ? May it ever become a crime ? 

20. Are courts of any service to the vast numbers who are never 

brought before them ? Why ? 

21. May good citizens always keep out of the courts if they 

choose ? Is it their duty always to keep out of them ? 

22. Is there any aversion among people that you know to being 

brought before the courts ? Why ? 

23. What is the purpose of a jail ? Is this purpose realized in 

fact ? 

24. Should a disturbance of a serious nature break out in your 

town, whose immediate duty would it be to quell it ? 
Suppose this duty should prove too difficult to perform, 
then what ? 

25. What is the attitude of good citizenship towards officers who 

are trying to enforce the laws ? What is the attitude of 
good citizenship if the laws are not satisfactory or if the 
officers are indiscreet in enforcing them ? 

26. Suppose a man of property dies and leaves a will, what trou¬ 

bles are possible about the disposal of his property ? Sup¬ 
pose he leaves no will, what troubles are possible ? 
Whose duty is it to exercise control over such matters 
and hold people up to legal and honourable conduct in 
them ? 

2 7. What is an executor ? What is an administrator ? 

28. If parents die, whose duty is it to care for their children ? 

If property is left to such children, are they free to use 
it as they please ? What has the county to do with such 
cases? 

29. How much does your town or city contribute towards county 

expenses ? How does this amount compare with that 
raised by other towns in the county ? 


70 


THE COUNTY. 


30. Give the organization of your county government. 

31. Would it be better for the towns to do themselves the work 

now done for them by the county ? 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 


§ 1. The County in its Beginnings. This subject is 
treated in connection with the township in several of the books 
above mentioned. See especially Howard, Local Const. Hist. 

§ 2. The Modern County in Massachusetts. There is 
a good account in Martin’s Text Book above mentioned. 

§ 3. The Old Virginia County. The best account is in 
J. H. U. Studies , III., ii.-iii. Edward Ingle, Virginia Local In¬ 
stitutions. 

In dealing with the questions on page 69 , both teachers and 
pupils will find Dole’s Talks about Law (Boston, 1887 ) extremely 
valuable and helpful. 




CHAPTER IV. 


TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY. 

§ 1 . Various Local Systems. 

We have now completed our outline sketch of town 
and county government as illustrated in New England 
on the one hand and in Virginia on the other. There 
are some important points in the early history of local 
government in other portions of the original thirteen 
states, to which we must next call attention; and then 
we shall be prepared to understand the manner in 
which our great western country lias been organized 
under civil government. We must first say something 
about South Carolina and Maryland. 

South Carolina was settled from half a century to a 
century later than Massachusetts and Vir- p r . lea 
ginia, and by two distinct streams of immi- in south 

° , Carolina. 

gration. ihe lowlands near the coast were 
settled by Englishmen and by French Huguenots, but 
the form of government was purely English. There 
were parishes, as in Virginia, but popular election 
played a greater part in them. The vestrymen were 
elected yearly by all the taxpayers of the parish. 
The minister was also elected by his people, and after 
1719 each parish sent its representatives to the colo¬ 
nial legislature, though in a few instances two par¬ 
ishes were joined together for the purpose of choosing 
representatives. The system was thus more demo- 


72 


TO WNSHIP AND COUNTY. 


cratic than in Virginia; and in this connection it is 
worth while to observe that parochial libraries and 
free schools were established as early as 1712 , much 
earlier than in Virginia. 

During the first half of the eighteenth century a 
very different stream of immigration, coming mostly 
along the slope of the Alleghanies from Virginia and 
Pennsylvania, and consisting in great part of Ger¬ 
mans, Scotch Highlanders, and Scotch-Irish, peopled 
the upland western regions of South Carolina. For 
some time this territory had scarcely any civil organi¬ 
zation. It was a kind of “ wild West.” There were 
as yet no counties in the colony. There was just one 
The back sheriff for the whole colony, who “ held his 
country. office by patent from the crown.” 1 A court 
sat in Charleston, but the arm of justice was hardly 
long enough to reach offenders in the mountains. “To 
punish a horse-thief or prosecute a debtor one was 
sometimes compelled to travel a distance of several 
hundred miles, and be subjected to all the dangers and 
delays incident to a wild country.” When people 
cannot get justice in what in civilized countries is the 
regular way, they will get it in some irregular way. 
So these mountaineers began to form themselves into 
bands known as “ regulators,” quite like the “ vigi¬ 
lance committees ” formed for the same purposes in 
California a hundred years later. For thieves and 
murderers the “ regulators ” provided a speedy trial, 
and the nearest tree served as a gallows. 

In order to put a stop to this lynch law, the legisla¬ 
ture in 1768 divided the back country into districts, 
_ each with its sheriff and court-house, and the 

Jrjctsys- judges were sent on circuit through these 
districts. The upland region with its dis- 
1 B. J. Ramage, in Johns Hopkins Univ. Studies, I., xii. 


VARIOUS LOCAL SYSTEMS. 


73 


tricts was thus very differently organized from the 
lowland region with its parishes, and the effect was for 
a while almost like dividing South Carolina into two 
states. At first the districts were not allowed to 
choose their own sheriffs, but in course of time they 
acquired this privilege. It was difficult to apportion 
the representation in the state legislature so as to bal¬ 
ance evenly the districts in the west against the par¬ 
ishes in the east, and accordingly there was much 
dissatisfaction, especially in the west which did not 
get its fair share. In 1786 the capital was moved 
from Charleston to Columbia as a concession to the 
back country, and in 1808 a kind of compromise was 
effected, in such wise that the uplands secured a per¬ 
manent majority in the house of representatives, while 
the lowlands retained control of the senate. The two 
sections had each its separate state treasurer, and this 
kind of double government lasted until the Civil 
War. 

At the close of the war “ the parishes were abol¬ 
ished and the district system was extended to the low 
country.” But soon afterward, by the new The mod _ 
constitution of 1868 , the districts were abol- caroX* 1 
ished and the state was divided into 34 coun- county * 
ties, each of which sends one senator to the state sen¬ 
ate, while they send representatives in proportion to 
their population. In each county the people elect 
three county commissioners, a school commissioner, a 
sheriff, a judge of probate, a clerk, and a coroner. In 
one respect the South Carolina county is quite pe¬ 
culiar : it has no organization for judicial purposes. 
“ The counties, like their institutional predecessor the 
district, are grouped into judicial circuits, and a judge 
is elected by the legislature for each circuit. Trial 
justices are appointed by the governor for a term of 
two years.” 


74 


TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY. 


This system, like the simple county system every¬ 
where, is a representative system ; the people take no 
direct part in the management of affairs. In one re¬ 
spect it seems obviously to need amendment. In states 
where county government has grown up naturally, 
after the Virginia fashion, the county is apt to be 
much smaller than in states where it is simply a dis-‘ 
trict embracing several township governments. Thus 
the average size of a county in Massachusetts is 557 
square miles, and in Connecticut 594 square miles ; 
but in Virginia it is only 383 and in Kentucky 307 
square miles. In South Carolina, however, where the 
county did not grow up of itself, but has been en¬ 
acted, so to speak, by a kind of afterthought, it has 
been made too large altogether. The average area of 
the county in South Carolina is about 1,000 square 
miles. Some counties are much larger. Col- 
ties are too leton county in 1890 could hold the whole 
state of Rhode Island, with 600 square miles 
to spare. Such an area is much too extensive for local 
self-government. Its different portions are too far 
apart to understand each other’s local wants, or to act 
efficiently toward supplying them ; and roads, bridges, 
and free schools suffer accordingly. An unsuccessful 
attempt has been made to reduce the size of the coun¬ 
ties. But what seems perhaps more likely to happen 
is the practical division of the counties into school dis¬ 
tricts, and the gradual development of these school 
districts into something like self-governing townships. 
To this very interesting point we shall again have 
occasion to refer. 

We come now to Maryland. The early history of 
local institutions in this state is a fascinating subject 
of study. None of the American colonies had a 
more distinctive character of its own, or reproduced 


I 


VARIOUS LOCAL SYSTEMS. 


75 


old English usages in a more curious fashion. There 
was much in colonial Maryland, with its lords of the 
manor, its bailiffs and seneschals, its courts baron and 
courts leet, to remind one of the England of the thir¬ 
teenth century. But of these ancient institutions, 
long since extinct, there is but one that needs to be 
mentioned in the present connection. In Maryland 
the earliest form of civil community was called, not a 
parish or township, but a hundred . This T h e hundred 
curious designation is often met with in inMar y land - 
English history, and the institution which it describes, 
though now almost everywhere extinct, was once 
almost universal among men. It will be remembered 
that the oldest form of civil society, which is still to 
be found among some barbarous races, was that in 
which families were organized into clans and clans 
into tribes; and we saw that among our forefathers 
in England the dwelling-place of the clan became the 
township, and the home of the tribe became the shire 
or county. Now, in nearly all primitive societies that 
have been studied, we find a group that is larger than 
the clan but smaller than the tribe, — or, in other 
words, intermediate between clan and tribe. Scholars 
usually call this group by its Greek name, _ , _ 

phratru* or “ brotherhood, for it was known erhoods, and 

1 U ’ tribes. 

long ago that in ancient Greece clans were 
grouped into brotherhoods and brotherhoods into 
tribes. Among uncivilized people all over the world 
we find this kind of grouping. For example, a tribe 
of North American Indians is regularly made up of 
phratries, and the phratries are made up of clans; 
and, strange as it might at first seem, a good many 
half-understood features of early Greek and Roman 
society have had much light thrown upon them from 
the study of the usages of Cherokees and Mohawks. 


76 


TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY. 


Wherever men have been placed, the problem of form* 
mg civil society has been in its main outlines the same; 
and in its earlier stages it has been approached in 
pretty much the same way by all. 

The ancient Romans had the brotherhood, and 
called it a curia . The Roman people were organized 
in clans, curies, and tribes. But for military purposes 
the curia was called a century , because it furnished a 
quota of one hundred men to the army. The word 
century originally meant a company of a hundred 
origin of the men, and it was only by a figure of speech 
hundred. that it afterward came to mean a period of 
a hundred years. Now among all Germanic peoples, 
including the English, the brotherhood seems to have 
been called the hundred. Our English forefathers 
seem to have been organized, like other barbarians, in 
clans, brotherhoods, and tribes; and the brotherhood 
was in some way connected with the furnishing a hun¬ 
dred warriors to the host. In the tenth century we 
find England covered with small districts known as 
hundreds. Several townships together made a hun¬ 
dred, and several hundreds together made a shire. 
The hundred was chiefly notable as the smallest area 
for the administration of justice. The hundred court 
The hundred was a representative body, composed of the 
c °ur fc . lords of lands or their stewards, with the 
reeve and four selected men and the parish priest from 
each township. There was a chief magistrate for the 
hundred, known originally as the hundredman, but 
after the Norman conquest as the high constable. 

By the thirteenth century the importance of the 
hundred had much diminished. The need for any 
such body, intermediate between township Decay of the 
and county, ceased to be felt, and the func- hundred - 
tions of the hundred were gradually absorbed by the 


VARIOUS LOCAL SYSTEMS. 


77 


county. Almost everywhere in England, by the reign 
of Elizabeth, the hundred had fallen into decay. It 
is curious that its name and some of its peculiarities 
should have been brought to America, and should in 
one state have remained to the present day. Some of 
the early settlements in Virginia were called hun¬ 
dreds, but they were practically nothing more than 
parishes, and the name soon became obsolete, except 
upon the map, where we still see, for example, Ber¬ 
muda Hundred. But in Maryland the hundred flour¬ 
ished and became the political unit, like the township 
in New England. The hundred was the militia dis¬ 
trict, and the district for the assessment of taxes. In 
the earliest times it was also the representative dis¬ 
trict ; delegates to the colonial legislature sat H 
for hundreds. But in 1654 this was changed, meetings in 
and representatives were elected by counties. 

The officers of the Maryland hundred were the high 
constable, the commander of militia, the tobacco- 
viewer, the overseer of roads, and the assessor of taxes. 
The last-mentioned officer was elected by the people, 
the others were all appointed by the governor. The 
hundred had also its assembly of all the people, which 
was in many respects like the New England town¬ 
meeting. These hundred-meetings enacted by-laws, 
levied taxes, appointed committees, and often exhib¬ 
ited a vigorous political life. But after the Revolu¬ 
tion they fell into disuse, and in 1824 the hundred 
became extinct in Maryland ; its organization was 
swallowed up in that of the county. 

In Delaware, however, the hundred remains to this 
day. There it is simply an imperfectly developed 
township, but its relations with the county, Thehund red 
as they have stood with but little change mDelaware - 
since 1743 , are very interesting. Each hundred used 


78 


TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY. 


to choose its own assessor of taxes, and every year in 
the month of November the assessors from all the 
hundreds used to meet in the county court-house, along 
with three or more justices of the peace and eight 
grand jurors, and assess the taxes for the ensuing 
year. A month later they assembled again, to hear 
complaints from persons who considered themselves 
overtaxed; and having disposed of this business, they 
proceeded to appoint collectors, one for each hundred. 
This county assembly was known as the “ court of 
levy and appeal,” or more briefly as the levy court. 
The levy a PP°i n t ec l the county treasurer, the road 
court, or commissioners, and the overseers of the 

representa¬ 
tive county poor. Since 1793 the levy court has been 

assembly. x " 

composed of special commissioners chosen 
by popular vote, but its essential character has not 
been altered. As a thoroughly representative body, 
it reminds one of the county courts of the Plantagenet 
period. 

We next come to the great middle colonies, Pennsyl¬ 
vania and New York. The most noteworthy feature 
^ of local government in Pennsylvania was the 
Pennsyiva- general election of county officers by popular 

nia county. ° ^ J £ J 1 1 

vote. Ihe county was the unit of represen¬ 
tation in the colonial legislature, and on election days 
the people of the county elected at the same time their 
sheriffs, coroners, assessors, and county commissioners. 
In this respect Pennsylvania furnished a model which 
has been followed by most of the states since the Rev¬ 
olution, as regards the county governments. It is also 
to be noted that before the Revolution, as Pennsyl¬ 
vania increased in population, the townships began to 
participate in the work of government, each township 
choosing its overseers of the poor, highway surveyors, 
and inspectors of elections. 1 

1 Town-meetings were not quite unknown in Pennsylvania ; 


VARIOUS LOCAL SYSTEMS. 79 

New York had from the very beginning the rudi¬ 
ments of an excellent system of local self-government. 
The Dutch villages had their assemblies, which under 
the English rule were developed into town- 
meetings, though with less ample powers SgTLTew 
than those of New England. The govern- Y ° rk * 
ing body of the New York town consisted of the con¬ 
stable and eight overseers, who answered in most 
respects to the selectmen of New England. Four of 
the overseers were elected each year in town-meeting, 
and one of the retiring overseers was at the same 
time elected constable. In course of time the elec¬ 
tive offices came to include assessors and collectors, 
town clerk, highway surveyors, fence-viewers, pound- 
masters, and overseers of the poor. At first the town- 
meetings seem to have been held only for the election 
of officers, but they acquired to a limited extent the 
power of levying taxes and enacting by-laws. In 1703 
a law was passed requiring each town to elect yearly 
an officer to be known as the “ supervisor,” 
whose duty was “to compute, ascertain, ex- wdoTsu- 
amine, oversee, and allow the contingent, peivlsors * 
publick, and necessary charges ” of the county. 2 For 
this purpose the supervisors met once a year at the 
county tow r n. The principle was the same as that of 
the levy court in Delaware. This board of supervis¬ 
ors was a strictly representative government, and 
' formed a strong contrast to the close corporation by 
which county affairs were administered in Virginia. 
The New York system is of especial interest, because 
it has powerfully influenced the development of local 
institutions throughout the Northwest. 

see W. P. Holcomb, “ Pennsylvania Boroughs,” J. H. U. Studies , 
IV., iv. 

2 Howard, Local Const. Hist., I 111. 


80 


TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY. 


QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

1. Describe the early local government of eastern South Caro¬ 

lina. 

2. Describe the early local government of western South Caro¬ 

lina. 

3. Explain the difference. 

4. What effort was made in 1768 to put a stop to lynch law ? 

c. What difficulties arose from the attempted adjustment of 
1768 ? 

6. What compromises were made between the two sections 

down to the time of the Civil War ? 

7. What changes have been made in local government since the 

Civil War ? 

8. Mention a peculiarity of the South Carolina county. 

9. Compare its size with that of counties in other states. 

10. What disadvantage is due to this great size ? 

11. What was the earliest form of civil community in Maryland, 

and from what source did it come ? 

12. Trace the development of the hundred in accordance with 

the following outline : — 

a. Intermediate groups between clans and tribes. 

b. Illustrations from Greece and the North American In¬ 
dians. 

c. The Roman century and the German hundred. 

13. Describe the English hundred in the tenth century. 

14. Describe the hundred court. 

15. Describe the Maryland hundred and its decay. 

16. What is the relation of the Delaware hundred to the county ? 

17. Describe the Delaware levy court. 

18. What were the prominent features of the Pennsylvania 

county ? 

19. Compare the town-meetings of New York with those of New 

England. 

20. What was the government of the New York county ? 

21. How did this government compare with that of the Virginia 

county ? 


SETTLEMENT OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. 81 


§ 2. Settlement of the Public Domain . 

The westward movement of population in the United 
States has for the most part followed the parallels of 
latitude. Thus Virginians and North Carolinians, 
crossing the Alleghanies, settled Kentucky and Tennes¬ 
see ; thus people from New England filled up the cen¬ 
tral and northern parts of New York, and 
passed on into Michigan and Wisconsin; movement of 
thus Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois received populatlon ' 
many settlers from New York and Pennsylvania. In 
the early times when Kentucky was settled, the pio¬ 
neer would select a piece of land wherever he liked, 
and after having a rude survey made, and the limits 
marked by “ blazing ” the trees with a hatchet, the sur¬ 
vey would be put on record in the state land-office. So 
little care was taken that “ half a dozen patents would 
sometimes be given for the same tract. Pieces of 
land, of all shapes and sizes, lay between the patents. 
. . . Such a system naturally begat no end of litiga¬ 
tion, and there remain in Kentucky curious vestiges 
of it ” to this day. 1 

In order to avoid such confusion in the settlement 
of the territory north of the Ohio river, Congress 
passed the land-ordinance of 1785 , which was based 
chiefly upon the suggestions of Thomas tTefferson, and 
laid the foundation of our simple and excellent system 
for surveying national lands. According to this sys¬ 
tem as gradually perfected, the government survey¬ 
ors first mark out a north and south line which is 
called the principal meridian . Twenty- Met h 0 dof 

four such meridians have been established. ti^pS 
The first was the dividing line between Ohio land8, 
and Indiana; the last one runs through Oregon a lit- 
1 Hinsdale. Old Northwest, p. 261. 


82 


TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY. 


tie to the west of Portland. On each side of the prin¬ 
cipal meridian there are marked off subordinate me¬ 
ridians called range lines , six miles apart, and num¬ 
bered east and west from their principal . 1 Then a 
true parallel of latitude is drawn, crossing these merid¬ 
ians at right angles. It is called the base line , or 
standard parallel. Eleven such base lines, for exam- 
pie, run across the great state of Oregon. Finally, 
on each side of the base line are drawn subordinate 
parallels called township lines , six miles apart, and 
numbered north and south from their base line. By 

1 The following is a diagram of the first principal meridian, 
and of the base line running across southern Michigan. A B is 
the principal meridian ; C D is the base line. The figures on 
the base line mark the range lines ; the figures on the principal 
meridian mark the township lines. E is township 4 north in range 
5 east ; F is township 5 south in range 4 west ; G is township 3 
north in range 3 west. 
































































SETTLEMENT OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. 83 


these range lines and township lines the whole land is 
thus divided into townships iust six miles ^ . , 

J Origin of 

square, and the townships are all numbered, western 

A t townships, 

Take, for example, the township of Deerfield 
in Michigan. That is the fourth township north of the 
base line, and it is in the fifth range east of the first 
principal meridian. It would be called township num¬ 
ber 4 north range 5 east, and was so called before it 
was settled and received a name. Evidently one must 
go 24 miles from the principal meridian, or 18 miles 
from the base line, in order to enter this township. 
It is all as simple as the numbering of streets in 
Philadelphia. 1 

ward, it is sometimes necessary to introduce a correction line, 
the nature of which will be seen from the following diagram: — 



1 In Philadelphia the streets for the most part cross each other 
at right angles and at equal distances, so that the city is laid out 
like a checkerboard. The parallel streets running in one direc¬ 
tion have names, often taken from trees. Market Street is the 















84 


TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY. 


If now we look at Livingston County, in which this 
township of Deerfield is situated, we observe that the 
county is made up of sixteen townships, in four rows 
of four; and the next county, Washtenaw, is made 
.up of twenty townships, in five rows of four. Maps 
of our Western states are thus apt to have somewhat of 
and of west- a checkerboard aspect, not unlike the won- 
em counties. (J er f U 1 country which Alice visited after she 
had gone through the looking-glass. Square townships 
are apt to make square or rectangular counties, and the 
state, too, is likely to acquire a more symmetrical shape. 

central street from which the others are reckoned in both direc¬ 
tions according to the couplet 

“ Market, Arch, Race, and Vine, 

Chestnut, Walnut, Spruce, and Pine,” etc. 

The cross streets are not named but numbered, as First, Second, 
etc. The houses on one side of the street have odd numbers 
and on the other side even numbers, as is the general custom in 
the United States. With each new block a new century of num¬ 
bers begins, although there are seldom more than forty real 
numbers in a block. For example, the corner house on Market 
Street, just above Fifteenth, is 1501 Market Street. At some¬ 
where about 1535 or 1539 you come to Sixteenth Street; then there 
is a break in the numbering, and the next corner house is 1601 . 
So in going along a numbered street, say Fifteenth, from Mar¬ 
ket, the first number will be 1 ; after passing Arch, 101 ; after 
passing Race, 201 , etc. With this system a very slight famil¬ 
iarity with the city enables one to find his way to any house, and 
to estimate the length of time needful for reaching it. St. Louis 
and some other large cities have adopted the Philadelphia plan, 
the convenience of which is as great as its monotony. In Wash¬ 
ington the streets running in one direction are lettered A, B, C, 
etc., and the cross streets are numbered ; and upon the checker¬ 
board plan is superposed another plan in which broad avenues 
radiate in various directions from the Capitol, and a few other 
centres. These avenues cut through the square system of streets 
in all directions, so that instead of the dull checkerboard monofc* 
ony there is an almost endless variety of magnificent vistas. 


SETTLEMENT OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. 85 

Nothing* could be more unlike the jagged, irregular 
shape of counties in Virginia or townships in Massa¬ 
chusetts, which grew up just as it happened. The 
contrast is similar to that between Chicago, with its 
straight streets crossing at right angles, and Boston, 
or London, with their labyrinths of crooked lanes. 
For picturesqueness the advantage is entirely with the 
irregular city, but for practical convenience it is quite 
the other way. So with our western lands the sim¬ 
plicity and regularity of the system have made it a 
marvel of convenience for the settlers, and doubtless 
have had much to do with the rapidity with which 
civil governments have been built up in the West. 
“ This fact,” says a recent writer, “ will be appreciated 
by those who know from experience the ease and cer¬ 
tainty with which the pioneer on the great plains of 
Kansas, Nebraska, or Dakota is enabled to select his 
homestead or 4 locate his claim ’ unaided by the expen¬ 
sive skill of the surveyor.” 1 

There was more in it than this, however. There was 
a germ of organization planted in these western town¬ 
ships, which must be noted as of great importance. 
Each township, being six miles in length and six 
miles in breadth, was divided into thirty-six numbered 
sections, each containing just one square mile, or 640 
acres. Each section, moreover, was divided into 16 
tracts of 40 acres each, and sales to settlers 
were and are generally made by tracts at the of the 

/.Till T, system. 

rate of a dollar and a quarter per acre. 4 or 
fifty dollars a man may buy forty acres of unsettled 
land, provided he will actually go and settle upon it, 
and this has proved to be a very effective inducement 
for enterprising young men to “go West.” Many a 
tract thus bought for fifty dollars has turned out to 
1 Howard, Local Const, Hist, of U. S., vol. i. p. 139. 


86 


TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY. 


be a soil upon which princely fortunes have grown. 
A tract of forty acres represents to-day in Chicago or 
Minneapolis an amount of wealth difficult for the im¬ 
agination to grasp. 

But in each of these townships there was at least 
one section which was set apart for a special purpose. 
This was usually the sixteenth section, nearly in the 

centre of the township ; and sometimes the 

The reserva- , , . .. . . , , , 

tionforpub- thirty-sixth section, in the southeast corner, 

lie schools. , , ,-p,, .. 

was also reserved, lhese reservations were 
for the support of public schools. Whatever money 
was earned, by selling the land or otherwise, in these 
sections, was to be devoted to school purposes. This 
was a most remarkable provision. No other nation 
has ever made a gift for schools on so magnificent a 
scale. We have good reason for taking pride in such 
a liberal provision. But we ought not to forget that 
all national gifts really involve taxation, and this is no 
exception to the rule, although in this case it is not a 
taking of money, but a keeping of it back. The na¬ 
tional government says to the local government, what¬ 
ever revenues may come from that section of 640 
acres, be they great or small, be it a spot in a rural 
grazing district, or a spot in some crowded city, are 
not to go into the pockets of individual men and wo¬ 
men, but are to be reserved for public purposes. This 
is a case of disguised taxation, and may serve to re¬ 
mind us of what was said some time ago, that a gov¬ 
ernment cannot give anything without in one way or 
another depriving individuals of its equivalent. No 
man can sit on a camp-stool and by any amount of 
tugging at that camp-stool lift himself over a fence. 
Whatever is given conies from somewhere, and what, 
ever is given by governments comes from the people. 

This reservation of one square mile in every town- 


SETTLEMENT OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. 87 

ship for purposes of education has already most pro¬ 
foundly influenced the development Of local inthisreser- 
government in our western states, and in the ^° n th t e here 
near future its effects are likely to become township 
still deeper and wider. To mark out a town- government * 
ship on the map may mean very little, but when once 
you create in that township some institution that 
needs to be cared for, you have made a long stride 
toward inaugurating township government. When a 
state, as for instance Illinois, grows up after the 
method just described, what can be more natural than 
for it to make the township a body corporate for 
school purposes, and to authorize its inhabitants to 
elect school officers and tax themselves, so far as may 
be necessary, for the support of the schools? But 
the school-house, in the centre of the township, is soon 
found to be useful for many purposes. It is conven¬ 
ient to go there to vote for state officers or for con¬ 
gressmen and president, and so the school township 
becomes an election district. Having once estab¬ 
lished such a centre, it is almost inevitable that it 
should sooner or later be made to serve sundry other 
purposes, and become an area for the election of con 
stables, justices of the peace, highway surveyors, and 
overseers of the poor. In this way a vigorous town¬ 
ship government tends to grow up about the school- 
house as a nucleus, somewhat as in early New England 
it grew up about the church. 

This tendency may be observed in almost all the 
western states and territories, even to the Pacific coast. 
When the western country was first settled, represen¬ 
tative county government prevailed almost At first the 
everywhere. This was partly because the tem n J?e- y8 ~ 
earliest settlers of the West came in much vailed * 
greater numbers from the middle and southern states 


88 


TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY. 


than from New England. It was also partly because, 
so long as the country was thinly settled, the number 
of people in a township was very small, and it was not 
easy to have a government smaller than that of the 
county. It was something, however, that the little 
squares on the map, by grouping which the counties 
were made, were already called townships. There is 
much in a name. It was still more important that 
these townships were only six miles square ; for that 
made it sure that, in due course of time, when popula¬ 
tion should have become dense enough, they would be 
convenient areas for establishing township govern¬ 
ment. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

1. What feature is conspicuous in the westward movement of 

population in the United States ? 

2. What looseness characterized early surveys in Kentucky ? 

3. What led to the passage of the land ordinance of 1785 ? 

4. Give the leading features of the government survey of west¬ 

ern lands: — 

a. The principal meridians. 

b. The range lines. 

c. The base lines. 

d. The township lines. 

5. Illustrate the application of the system in the case of a town. 

6. Contrast in shape western townships and counties with corre¬ 

sponding divisions in Massachusetts and Virginia. 

7. Contrast them in convenience and in picturesqueness. 

8. What had the convenience of the government system to do 

with the settlement of the West ? 

9. What were the divisions of the township, and what disposi¬ 

tion was made of them ? 

10. What important reservations were made in the townships? 

11. Show how these reservations involved a kind of taxation. 

12. What profound influence has the reservation for schools ex¬ 

erted upon local government ? 

13. Why did the county system prevail at first ? 


TOWNSHIP-COUNTY SYSTEM. 


89 


§ 8. The Representative Township-County System 
in the West. 

The first western state to adopt the town-meeting 
was Michigan, where the great majority of the set¬ 
tlers had come from New England, or from 
central New York, which was a kind of west- meeting hi 
ward extension of New England. 1 Coun- Michlgan * 
ties were established in Michigan Territory in 1805, 
and townships were first incorporated in 1825. This 
was twelve years before Michigan became a state. At 
first the powers of the town-meeting were narrowly 
limited. It elected the town and county officers, but 
its power of appropriating money seems to have been 
restricted to the purpose of extirpating noxious ani¬ 
mals and weeds. In 1827, however, it was author¬ 
ized to raise money for the support of schools, and 
since then its powers have steadily increased, until 
now they approach those of the town-meeting in Mas¬ 
sachusetts. 

The history of Illinois presents an extremely inter¬ 
esting example of rivalry and conflict between the 
town system of New England and the county settlement 
system of the South. Observe that this of Illmois * 
great state is so long that, while the parallel of lati¬ 
tude starting from its northern boundary runs through 
Marblehead in Massachusetts, the parallel through its 
southernmost point, at Cairo, runs a little south of 
Petersburg in Virginia. In 1818, when Illinois 
framed its state government and was admitted to the 
Union, its population was chiefly in the southern half, 

1 “ Of the 496 members of the Michigan Pioneer Association 
in 1881, 407 are from these sections” [New England and New 
York]. Bemis, Local Government in Michigan and the North- 
west , J. H. 17. Studies, I., v. 


90 


TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY. 


and composed for the most part of pioneers from Vir¬ 
ginia and Virginia’s daughter-state Kentucky. These 
men brought with them the old Virginia county sys¬ 
tem, but with the very great difference that the county 
officers were not appointed by the governor, or allowed 
to be a self-perpetuating board, but were elected by the 
people of the county. This was a true advance in 
the democratic direction, but an essential defect of the 
southern system remained in the absence of any kind 
of local meeting for the discussion of public affairs 
and the enactment of local laws. 

By the famous Ordinance of 1787, to which we 
shall again have occasion to refer, negro slavery had 
been forever prohibited to the north of the Ohio river, 
Effects of so that, in spite of the wishes of her early 
nanceof* settlers, Illinois was obliged to enter the 
1787 * Union as a free state. But in 1820 Mis¬ 
souri was admitted as a slave state, and this turned 
the stream of southern migration aside from Illinois 
to Missouri. These emigrants, to whom slaveholding 
was a mark of social distinction, preferred to go where 
they could own slaves. About the same time settlers 
from New England and New York, moving along the 
southern border of Michigan and the northern borders 
of Ohio and Indiana, began pouring into the northern 
part of Illinois. These new-comers did not find the 
representative county system adequate for their needs, 
and they demanded township government. A memora¬ 
ble political struggle ensued between the northern 
and southern halves of the state, ending in 1848 with 
the adoption of a new constitution. It was provided. 
“ that the legislature should enact a general law for 
the political organization of townships, under which 
any county might act whenever a majority of its voters 
should so determine.” 1 This was introducing the 

1 Shaw, Local Government in Illinois, J. H. U. Studies, I., iii. 


TOWNSHIP-COUNTY SYSTEM. 


91 


principle of local option, and in accordance therewith 
township governments with town-meetings were at 
once introduced in the northern counties of the state, 
while the southern counties kept on in the old way. 
Now comes the most interesting part of the story. 
The two systems being thus brought into immediate 
contact in the same state, with free choice between 
them left to the people, the northern system has slowly 
but steadily supplanted the southern system, until at 
the present day only one fifth part of the counties in 
Illinois remain without township government. 

This example shows the intense vitality of the 
township system. It is the kind of government that 
people are sure to prefer when they have intense vi- 
once tried it under favourable conditions, township* 9 
In the West the hostile conditions against 8ystem * 
which it has to contend are either the recent existence 
of negro slavery and the ingrained prejudice in favour 
of the Virginia method, as in Missouri; or simply the 
sparseness of population, as in Nebraska. Time will 
evidently remove the latter obstacle, and probably the 
former also. It is very significant that in Missouri, 
which began so lately as 1879 to erect township gov¬ 
ernments under a local option law similar to that of 
Illinois, the process has already extended over about 
one sixth part of the state; and in Nebraska, where 
the same process began in 1883, it has covered nearly 
one third of the organized counties of the state. 

The principle of local option as to government has 
been carried still farther in Minnesota and Dakota. 
The method just described may be called county op- 
county option ; the question is decided by a Jownshfp 
majority vote of the people of the county. 0ptl0n - 
But in Minnesota in 1878 it was enacted that as soon 
as any one of the little square townships in that state 


92 


TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY. 


should contain as many as twenty-five legal voters, it 
might petition the board of county commissioners and 
obtain a township organization, even though the ad¬ 
jacent townships in the same county should remain 
under county government only. Five years later the 
same provision was adopted by Dakota, and under it 
township government is steadily spreading. 

Two distinct grades of township government are to 
be observed in the states west of the Alleghanies ; the 
one has the town-meeting for deliberative 

Grades of 0 

township purposes, the other has not. In Ohio and 

government, * . ,. 

Indiana, which derived their local institu¬ 
tions largely from Pennsylvania, there is no such 
town-meeting, the administrative offices are more or 
less concentrated in a board of trustees, and the town 
is quite subordinate to the county. The principal 
features of this system have been reproduced in Iowa, 
Missouri, and Kansas. 

The other system was that which we have seen be¬ 
ginning in Michigan, under the influence of New 
York and New England. Here the town-meeting, 
with legislative powers, is always present. The most 
noticeable feature of the Michigan system is the rela¬ 
tion between township and county, which was taken 
from New York. The county board is composed of the 
supervisors of the several townships, and thus repre¬ 
sents the townships. It is the same in Illinois. It is 
held by some writers that this is the most perfect 
form of local government, 1 but on the other hand the 
objection is made that county boards thus constituted 
are too large. 2 We have seen that in the states in 
question there are not less than 16, and sometimes 
more than 20, townships in each county. In a board 

1 Howard, Local Const. Hist. f passim. 

2 Bemis, Local Government in Michigan , J. H. U. Studies, I., v. 


TOWNSHIP-COUNTY SYSTEM. 


93 


An excellent 
result of the 
absence of 
centraliza¬ 
tion in the 
United 
States. 


of 16 or 20 members it is hard to fasten responsi¬ 
bility upon anybody in particular; and thus it be¬ 
comes possible to have “ combinations,” and to indulge 
in that exchange of favours known as “ log-rolling,” 
which is one of the besetting sins of all large repre¬ 
sentative bodies. Responsibility is more concentrated 
in the smaller county boards of Massachusetts, Wis¬ 
consin, and Minnesota. 

It is one signal merit of the peaceful and untram¬ 
melled way in which American institutions have 
grown up, the widest possible scope being allowed to 
individual and local preferences, that differ¬ 
ent states adopt different methods of attain¬ 
ing the great end at which all are aiming in 
common, — good government. One part of 
our vast country can profit by the experi¬ 
ence of other parts, and if any system or method thus 
comes to prevail everywhere in the long run, it is 
likely to be by reason of its intrinsic excellence. Our 
country affords an admirable field for the study of the 
general principles which lie at the foundations of uni¬ 
versal history. Governments, large and small, are 
growing up all about us, and in such wise that we can 
watch the processes of growth, and learn lessons which, 
after making due allowances for difference of circum¬ 
stance, are very helpful in the study of other times 
and countries. 

The general tendency toward the spread of township 
government in the more recently settled parts of the 
United States is unmistakable, and I have already re¬ 
marked upon the influence of the public school sys¬ 
tem in aiding this tendency. The school district, as a 
preparation for the self-governing township, is already 
exerting its influence in Colorado, Nevada, California, 
Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washing¬ 
ton. 


94 


TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY. 


Something similar is going on in the southern states, 
as already hinted in the ease of South Carolina. Lo¬ 
cal taxation for school purposes has also been estab¬ 
lished in Kentucky and Tennessee, in both Virginias, 
and elsewhere. There has thus begun a most natural 
and wholesome movement, which might easily be 
checked, with disastrous results, by the injudicious 

appropriation of national revenue for the 

Township f f ^ 

government aid oi southern schools, it is to be hoped 

is germinat- 

ing in the that throughout the southern states, as ior- 

South. . . 

merly m Michigan, the seli-governing school 
district may prepare the way for the self-governing 
township, with its deliberative town-meeting. Such a 
growth must needs be slow, inasmuch as it requires 
long political training on the part of the negroes and 
the lower classes of white people; but it is along 
such a line of development that such political training 
can best be acquired; and in no other way is complete 
harmony between the two races so likely to be secured. 

Dr. Edward Bemis, who in a profoundly interesting 
essay 1 has called attention to this function of the 
school district as a stage in the evolution of the town¬ 
ship, remarks also upon the fact that “it is in the local 
woman suf- government of the school district that woman 
frage ‘ suffrage is being tried.” In several states 
women may vote for school committees, or may be 
elected to school committees, or to sundry adminis¬ 
trative school offices. At present (1898) there are 
not less than twenty-two states in which women have 
school suffrage. In Utah, Idaho, Colorado, and Wy¬ 
oming women have full suffrage, voting at municipal, 
state, and national elections. In Kansas they have 

1 Local Government in Michigan and the Northwest , J. H. U. 
Studies, I., v. 


TOWNSHIP-COUNTY SYSTEM. 


95 


municipal suffrage, in Iowa bond suffrage, and in 
Louisiana tax-paying women can vote on questions 
submitted to tax-payers as such. In England, it may 
be observed, unmarried women and widows who pay 
taxes vote not only on school matters, but generally in 
the local elections of vestries, boroughs, and poor-law 
unions. In the new Parish Councils Pill this muni¬ 
cipal suffrage is extended to married women. In the 
Isle of Man women vote for members of Parliament. 
In South Australia they have full suffrage, and in 
1893 they were endowed with full rights of suffrage 
in New Zealand. 

The historical reason why the .suffrage has so gen¬ 
erally been restricted to men is perhaps to be sought 
in the conditions under which voting originated. In 
primeval times voting was probably adopted as a sub¬ 
stitute for fighting. The smaller and presumably 
weaker party yielded to the larger without an actual 
trial of physical strength; heads were counted in¬ 
stead of being broken. Accordingly it was only the 
warriors who became voters. The restriction of polit¬ 
ical activity to men has also probably been empha¬ 
sized by the fact that all the higher civilizations have 
passed through a well-defined patriarchal stage of 
society in which each household was represented by 
its oldest warrior. From present indications it would 
seem that under the conditions of modern industrial 
society the arrangements that have so long subsisted 
are likely to be very essentially altered. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

1. Describe the origin and development of the town-meeting in 

Michigan. 

2. Describe the settling of southern Illinois. 

3. Describe the settling of northern Illinois. 


96 


TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY. 


4 . What difference in thought and feeling existed between these 

sections ? 

5. What systems of local government came into rivalry in Illi¬ 

nois, and why ? 

6 . What compromise between them was put into the state con¬ 

stitution ? 

7 . Which system, the town or the county, has shown the greater 

vitality, and why ? 

8 . What obstacles has the town system to work against ? 

9 . Show how the principle of local option in government has 

been applied in Missouri, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Da¬ 
kota. 

30 . What two grades of town government exist west of the 
Alleghanies ? 

11. What objection exists to large county boards of govern¬ 

ment ? 

12 . Why is our country an excellent field for the study of the 

principles of government ? 

13 . What unmistakable tendency in the case of township govern¬ 

ment is noticeable ? 

14 . Speak of township government in the South. 

15 . What part have women in the affairs of the school district 

in many states ? 

16 . What is the historical reason why suffrage has been restricted 

to men ? # 


SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS. 

It may need to be repeated (see page 12) that it is not expected 
that each pupil shall answer all the miscellaneous questions put, or 
respond to all the suggestions made in this book. Indeed, the 
teacher may be pardoned if now and then he finds it difficult 
himself to answer a question, — particularly if it is frajned to 
provoke thought rather than lead to a conclusion, or if it is bet¬ 
ter fitted for some other community or part of the country than 
that in which he lives. Let him therefore divide the questions 
among his pupils, or assign to them selected questions. In cases 
that call for special knowledge, let the topics go to pupils who 
may have exceptional facilities for information at home. 

The important point is not so much the settlement of all the 
questions proposed as it is the encouragement of the inquiring 
and thinking spirit on the part of the pupil. 


TOWNSHIP-COUNTY SYSTEM. 97 

1. What impression do you get from this chapter about the hold 

of town government upon popular favour ? 

2 . What do you regard as the best features of town govern¬ 

ment ? 

3 . Is there any tendency anywhere to divide towns into smaller 

towns ? If it exists, illustrate and explain it. 

4- Is there any tendency anywhere to unite towns into larger 
towns or into cities ? If it exists, illustrate and explain it. 
5 * In every town-meeting there are leaders, — usually men of 
character, ability, and means. Do you understand that 
these men practically have their own way in town affairs, 
—that the voters as a whole do but little more than fall 
in with the wishes and plans of their leaders? Or is 
there considerable independence in thought and action on 
the side of the voters ? 

6 . Can a town do what it pleases, or is it limited in its action ? 

If limited, by whom or by what is it restricted, and where 
are the restrictions recorded ? (Consult the Statutes.) 

7 . Why should the majority rule in town-meeting ? Suggest, 

if possible, a better way. 

8 . Is it, on the whole, wise that the vote of the poor man shall 

count as much as that of the rich, the vote of the igno¬ 
rant as much as that of the intelligent, the vote of the 
unprincipled as much as that of the high-toned ? 

9 . Have the poor, the ignorant, or the unprincipled any inter¬ 

ests to be regarded in government ? 

10 . Is the single vote a man casts the full measure of his influ¬ 

ence and power in the town-meeting ? 

11. What are the objections to a suffrage restricted by property 

and intellectual qualifications ? To a suffrage unre¬ 
stricted by such qualifications ? 

12 . Do women vote in your town ? If so, give some account of 

their voting and of the success or popularity of the plan. 

13 . Is lynch law ever justifiable ? 

14 . Ought those who resort to lynch law to be punished ? If 

so, for what ? 

15 . Compare the condition or government of a community where 

lynch law is resorted to with the condition or government 
of a community where it is unknown. 

{ 6 . May the citizen who is not an officer of the law interfere ( 1 ) 
to stop the fighting of boys in the public streets, ( 2 ) to 
capture a thief who is plying his trade, (3) to defend a 


98 


TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY. 


person who is brutally assaulted ? Is there anything like 
lynch law in such interference ? Where does the citizen’s 
duty begin and end in such cases ? 

17 . How came the United States to own the public domain or 

any part of it? (Consult my Critical Period of Amer. 
Hist., pp. 187-207.) 

18 . How does this domain get into the possession of individuals ? 

19 . Is it right for the United States to give any part of it away ? 

If right, under what conditions is it right ? If wrong, 
under what conditions is it wrong ? 

20 . What is the “ homestead act ” of the United States, and what 

is its object ? 

21 . Can perfect squares of the same size be laid out with the 

range and township lines of the public surveys ? Are all 
the sections of a township of the same size ? Explain. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 


§ 1. Various Local Systems. — J. H. U. Studies, I., vi., 
Edward Ingle, Parish Institutions of Maryland ; I., vii., John 
Johnson, Old Maryland Manors; I., xii., B. J. Ramage, Local 
Government and Free Schools in South Carolina ; III., v.-vii., L. 
W. Wilhelm, Local Institutions of Maryland ; IV., i., Irving El- 
ting, Dutch Village Communities on the Hudson River. 

§ 2. Settlement of the Public Domain. — J. H. U. 
Studies, III., i., H. B. Adams, Maryland's Influence upon Land 
Cessions to the United States ; IV., vii.-ix., Shoshuke Sato, His¬ 
tory of the Land Question in the United States. 

§3. The Representative Township-County System.— 
J. H. U. Studies , I., iii., Albert Shaw, Local Government in Illi¬ 
nois ; I., v., Edward Bemis, Local Government in Michigan and the 
Northwest ; II., vii., Jesse Macy, Institutional Beginnings in a 
Western State (Iowa). For further illustration of one set of 
institutions supervening upon another, see also V., v.-vi., J. G. 
Bourinot, Local Government in Canada ; VIII., iii., D. E. Spen¬ 
cer, Local Government in Wisconsin. 




CHAPTER V, 


THE CITY. 

§ 1. Direct and Indirect Government . 

In the foregoing survey of local institutions and 
their growth, we have had occasion to compare and 
sometimes to contrast two different methods g f 
of government as exemplified on the one foregoing 
hand in the township and on the other hand 
in the county. In the former we have direct govern¬ 
ment by a primary assembly, 1 the town-meeting; in 
the latter we have indirect government by a represen¬ 
tative board. If the county board, as in colonial Vir¬ 
ginia, perpetuates itself, or is appointed otherwise than 
by popular vote, it is not strictly a representative 
board, in the modern sense of the phrase; the govern¬ 
ment is a kind of oligarchy. If, as in colonial Penn¬ 
sylvania, and in the United States generally to-day, 
the county board consists of officers elected by the 
people, the county government is a representative 
democracy. The township government, on the other 
hand, as exemplified in New England and in the 
northwestern states which have adopted it, is a pure 
democracy. The latter, as we have observed, has one 
signal advantage over all other kinds of government, 

1 A primary assembly is one in which the members attend of 
their own right, without having been elected to it; a representa¬ 
tive assembly is composed of elected delegates. 


L.olC. 


100 


THE CITY. 


in so far as it tends to make every man feel that the 
business of government is part of his own business, 
and that where he has a stake in the management of 
public affairs he has also a voice. When people have 
got into the habit of leaving local affairs to be man¬ 
aged by representative boards, their active interest in 
local affairs is liable to be somewhat weakened, as all 
energies in this world are weakened, from want of 
exercise. When some fit subject of complaint is 
brought up, the individual is too apt to feel that it is 
none of his business to furnish a remedy, let the 
proper officers look after it. He can vote at elec¬ 
tions, which is a power; he can perhaps make a stir in 
the newspapers, which is also a power; but personal 
participation in town-meeting is likewise a power, the 
necessary loss of which, as we pass to wider spheres 
of government, is unquestionably to be regretted. 

Nevertheless the loss is inevitable. A primary 
assembly of all the inhabitants of a county, for pur¬ 
poses of local government, is out of the question. 
Direct gov- There must be representative government, 
possible 1 ina an d for this purpose the county system, an 
county. inheritance from the ancient English shire, 
has furnished the needful machinery. Our county 
government is near enough to the people to be kept in 
general from gross abuses of power. There are many 
points which can be much better decided in small rep¬ 
resentative bodies than in large miscellaneous meetings. 
The responsibility of our local boards has been fairly 
well preserved. The county system has had no mean 
share in keeping alive the spirit of local independence 
and self-government among our people. As regards 
efficiency of administration, it has achieved commend¬ 
able success, except in the matter of rural highways; 
and if our roads are worse than those of any other 


DIRECT AND INDIRECT GOVERNMENT. 101 


civilized country, that is due not so much to imperfect 
administrative methods as to other causes, — such as 
the sparse ness of population, the fierce extremes of 
sunshine and frost, and the fact that since this huge 
country began to be reclaimed from the wilderness, 
the average voter, who has not travelled in Europe, 
knows no more about good roads than he knows about 
the temples of Paestum or the pictures of Tintoretto, 
and therefore does not realize what demands he may 
reasonably make. 

This last consideration applies in some degree, no 
doubt, to the ill-paved and filthy streets which are the 
first things to arrest one’s attention in most of our 
great cities. It is time for us now to consider briefly 
our general system of city government, in its origin 
and in some of its most important features. 

Representative government in counties is necessi¬ 
tated by the extent of territory covered; in cities it 
is necessitated by the multitude of people. When the 
town comes to have a very large population, 
it becomes physically impossible to have town-meet- 
town-meetings. No way could be devised ms m 
by which all the taxpayers of the city of New York 
could be assembled for discussion. In 1820 the pop¬ 
ulation of Boston was about 40,000, of whom rather 
more than 7,000 were voters qualified to attend the 
town-meetings. Consequently 44 when a town-meeting 
was held on any exciting subject in Faneuil Hall, 
those only who obtained places near the moderator 
could even hear the discussion. A few busy or in¬ 
terested individuals easily obtained the management 
of the most important affairs in an assembly in which 
the greater number could have neither voice nor hear¬ 
ing. When the subject was not generally exciting, 
town-meetings were usually composed of the select- 


102 


THE CITY. 


men, the town officers, and thirty or forty inhabitants. 
Those who thus came were for the most part drawn 
to it from some official duty or private interest, which, 
when performed or attained, they generally troubled 
themselves but little, or not at all, about the other 
business of the meeting.” 1 

Under these circumstances it was found necessary 
in 1822 to drop the town-meeting altogether and 
devise a new form of government for Boston. After 
various plans had been suggested and discussed, it 
was decided that the new government should be vested 
in a Mayor; a select council of eight persons to be called 
the Board of Aldermen; and a Common Council of 
forty-eight persons, four from each of twelve wards into 
which the city was to be divided. All these officials 
were to be elected by the people. At the same time 
the official name “ Town of Boston ” was changed to 
“ City of Boston.” 

There is more or less of history involved in these 
offices and designations, to which we may devote a few 
Distinctions words of explanation. In New England 
townsand local usage there is an ambiguity in the word 
cities. <( town.” As an official designation it means 
the inhabitants of a township considered as a commu¬ 
nity or corporate body. In common parlance it often 
means the patch of land constituting the township on 
the map, as when we say that Squire Brown’s elm is 
“ the biggest tree in town.” But it still oftener means 
a collection of streets, houses, and families too large 
to be called a village, but without the municipal gov¬ 
ernment that characterizes a city. Sometimes it is 
used par excellence for a city, as when an inhabitant 
of Cambridge, itself a large suburban city, speaks of 
going to Boston as going “ into town.” But such 
1 Quincy’s Municipal History of Boston , p. 28. 


DIRECT AND INDIRECT GOVERNMENT . 103 

eases are of course mere survivals from the time when 
the suburb was a village. In American usage gener¬ 
ally the town is something between village and city, a 
kind of inferior or incomplete city. The image which 
it calls up in the mind is of something urban and not 
rural. This agrees substantially with the usage in 
European history, where “ town ” ordinarily means a 
walled town or city as contrasted with a village. In 
England the word is used either in this general sense, 
or more specifically as signifying an inferior city, as 
in America. But the thing which the town lacks, as 
compared with the complete city, is very different in 
America from what it is in England. In America it 
is municipal government — with mayor, aldermen, and 
common council — which must be added to the town 
in order to make it a city. In England the town may 
(and usually does) have this municipal government; 
but it is not distinguished by the Latin name “ city ” 
unless it has a cathedral and a bishop. Or in other 
words the English city is, or has been, the capital of 
a diocese. Other towns in England are distinguished 
as “ boroughs,” an old Teutonic word which was orig¬ 
inally applied to towns as fortified places. 1 The vo¬ 
ting inhabitants of an English city are called “ citi¬ 
zens;” those of a borough are called “burgesses.” 
Thus the official corporate designation of Cambridge 
is “the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of Cam¬ 
bridge ; ” but Oxford is the seat of a bishopric, and 
its corporate designation is “ the mayor, aldermen, and 
citizens of Oxford.” 

1 The word appears in many town names, such as Edin¬ 
burgh, Scarborough , Canterbury , Bury St. Edmunds ; and on the 
Continent, as Hamburg , Cherbourg , Burgos , etc. In Connecticut, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota, the name “ borough ” 
is applied to a certain class of municipalities with some of the 
powers of cities. 


104 


THE CITY. 


QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

1 . What is the essential difference between township govern¬ 

ment and county government ? 

2 . What is the distinct advantage of the former ? 

3 . Why is direct government impossible in the county ? 

4 . Speak of the degree of efficiency in county government. 

5 . Why is direct government impossible in a city ? 

6 . What difficulties in direct government were experienced in 

Boston in 1820 and many years preceding ? 

7. What remedy for these difficulties was adopted ? 

8 . Show how the word “town” is used to indicate 

a. The land of a township. 

b. A somewhat large collection of streets, houses, and fam¬ 
ilies. 

c. And even, in some instances, a city. 

9 . What is the town commonly understood to be in American 

usage ? 

10. What is the difference in the United States between a town 

and a city ? 

11 . What is the difference in England between a town and a 

city? 

12 . Distinguish between citizens and burgesses in England. 

§ 2. Origin of English Boroughs and Cities . 
What, then, was the origin of the English borough 
or city ? In the days when Roman legions occupied 
for a long time certain military stations in 

“Chesters.” . . ® J 

.Britain, their camps were apt to become 
centres of trade and thus to grow into cities. Such 
places were generally known as casters or chesters , 
from the Latin castra , “ camp,” and there are many 
of them on the map of England to-day. But these 
were exceptional cases. As a rule the origin of the 
borough was as purely English as its name. We have 
seen that the town was originally the dwelling-place 
Coalescence °* a stationary clan, surrounded by palisades 
tatofortified or by a dense quickset hedge. Now where 
boroughs. such small enclosed places were thinly scat¬ 
tered about they developed simply into villages. But 


ENGLISH BOROUGHS AND CITIES. 105 


where, through the development of trade or any other 
cause, a good many of them grew up close together 
within a narrow compass, they gradually coalesced into 
a kind of compound town; and with the greater pop¬ 
ulation and greater wealth, there was naturally more 
elaborate and permanent fortification than that of the 
palisaded village. There were massive walls and 
frowning turrets, and the place came to be called a 
fortress or “ borough.” The borough, then, “ was sim¬ 
ply several townships packed tightly together ; a hun¬ 
dred smaller in extent and thicker in population than 
other hundreds.” 1 

From this compact and composite character of the 
borough came several important results. We have 
seen that the hundred was the smallest area „ , 
tor the administration of nustice. Ihe town- as » inm- 

J . dred. 

ship was m many respects self-governing, 
but it did not have its court, any more than the New 
England township of the present day has its court. 
The lowest court was that of the hundred, but as the 
borough was equivalent to a hundred it soon came to 
have its own court. And although much obscurity 
still surrounds the early history of municipal govern¬ 
ment in England, it is probable that this court was a 
representative board, like any other hundred court, 
and that the relation of the borough to its constituent 
townships resembled the relation of the modern city 
to its constituent wards. 

But now as certain boroughs grew larger and an¬ 
nexed outlying townships, or acquired adjacent terri¬ 
tory which presently became covered with T he borough 
streets and houses, their constitution became as a county * 
still more complex. The borough came to embrace 

1 Freeman, Norman Conquest, vol. v. p. 466. For a descrip¬ 
tion of the hundred, see above, pp. 75-80. 


106 


THE CITY. 


several closely packed hundreds, and thus became 
analogous to a shire. . In this way it gained for itself 
a sheriff and the equivalent of a county court. For 
example, under the charter granted by Henry I. in 
1101, London was expressly recognized as a county 
by itself. Its burgesses could elect their own chief 
magistrate, who was called the port-reeve, inasmuch 
as London is a seaport; in some other towns he was 
called the borough-reeve. He was at once the chief 
executive officer and the chief judge. The burgesses 
could also elect their sheriff, although in all rural 
counties Henry’s father, William the Conqueror, had 
lately deprived the people of this privilege and ap¬ 
pointed the sheriffs himself. London had its rep¬ 
resentative board, or council, which was the equiva¬ 
lent of a county court. Each ward, moreover, had its 
own representative board, which was the equivalent of 
a hundred court. 44 Within the wards, or hundreds, 
the burgesses were grouped together in township, par¬ 
ish, or manor. . . . Into the civic organization of 
London, to whose special privileges all lesser cities 
were ever striving to attain, the elements of local ad¬ 
ministration embodied in the township, the hundred, 
and the shire thus entered as component parts.” 1 
Constitutionally, therefore, London was a little world 
in itself, and in a less degree the same was true of 
other cities and boroughs which afterwards obtained 
the same kind of organization, as for example, York 
and Newcastle, Lincoln and Norwich, Southampton 
and Bristol. 

In such boroughs or cities all classes of society 
^ were brought into close contact, — barons 

The guilds. ° 7 

and knights, priests and monks, merchants 

1 Ilannis Taylor, Origin and Growth of the English Constitvr 
tion f vol. i. p. 458. 


ENGLISH BOROUGHS AND CITIES. 107 


and craftsmen, free labourers and serfs. But trades 
and manufactures, which always had so much to do 
with the growth of the city, acquired the chief power 
and the control of the government. From an early 
period tradesmen and artisans found it worth while 
to form themselves into guilds or brotherhoods, in 
order to protect their persons and property against 
insult and robbery at the hands of great lords and 
their lawless military retainers. Thus there came to 
be guilds, or “ worshipful companies,” of grocers, fish¬ 
mongers, butchers, weavers, tailors, ironmongers, car¬ 
penters, saddlers, armourers, needle-makers, etc. In 
large towns there was a tendency among such trade 
guilds to combine in a “ united brotherhood,” or 
“town guild,” and this organization at length ac¬ 
quired full control of the city government. In Lon¬ 
don this process was completed in the course of the 
thirteenth century. To obtain the full privileges of 
citizenship one had to be enrolled in a guild. The 
guild hall became the city hall. The aldermen , or 
head men of sundry guilds, became the head Mayor,aider, 
men of the several wards. There was a 
representative board, or common council , counciL 
elected by the citizens. The aldermen and common 
council held their meetings in the Guildhall, and 
over these meetings, presided the chief magistrate, or 
port-reeve, who by this time, in accordance with the 
fashion then prevailing, had assumed the French title 
of mayor . As London had come to be a little world 
in itself, so this city government reproduced on a small 
scale the national government: the mayor answering 
to the king, the aristocratic board of aldermen to the 
House of Lords, and the democratic common council 
to the House of Commons. A still more suggestive 
comparison, perhaps, would be between the aldermen 


108 


THE CITY. 


and our federal Senate, since the aldermen represented 
wards, while the common council represented the 
citizens. 

The constitution thus perfected in the city of Lon¬ 
don 1 six hundred years ago has remained to this day 
The city of without essential change. The voters are 
Loudon. enrolled members of companies which rep¬ 
resent the ancient guilds. Each year they choose 
one of the aldermen to be lord mayor. Within the 
city he has precedence next to the sovereign and be¬ 
fore the royal family; elsewhere he ranks as an earl, 
thus indicating the equivalence of the city to a county, 
and with like significance he is lord lieutenant of the 
city and justice of the peace. The twenty-six alder¬ 
men, one for each ward, are elected by the people, 
such as are entitled to vote for members of parlia¬ 
ment ; they are justices of the peace. The common 
councilmen, 206 in number, are also elected by the 
people, and their legislative power within the city is 
practically supreme; parliament does not think of 
overruling it. And the city government thus con¬ 
stituted is one of the most clean-handed and efficient 
in the world. 2 

The development of other English cities and bor¬ 
oughs was so far like that of London that merchant 
guilds generally obtained control, and government by 
mayor, aldermen, and common council came to be the 

1 The city of London extends east and west from the Tower 
to Temple Bar, and north and south from Finsbury to the 
Thames, with a population of not more than 100,000, and is but 
a small part of the enormous metropolitan area now known as 
London, which is a circle of twelve miles radius in every direc¬ 
tion from its centre at Charing Cross, with a population of more 
than 5,000,000. This vast area is an agglomeration of many par¬ 
ishes, manors, etc., and has no municipal government in common 

2 Loffcie, History of London, vol. i. p. 446. 


ENGLISH BOROUGHS AND CITIES . 109 

prevailing type. Having also their own judges and 
sheriffs, and not being obliged to go out- English 
side of their own walls to obtain justice, to buiwaSs of 
enforce contracts and punish crime, their liberty * 
efficiency as independent self-governing bodies was 
great, and in many a troubled time they served as 
staunch bulwarks of English liberty. The strength 
of their turreted walls was more than supplemented 
by the length of their purses, and such immunity 
from the encroachments of lords and king as they 
could not otherwise win, they contrived to buy. Ar¬ 
bitrary taxation they generally escaped by compounding 
with the royal exchequer in a fixed sum or quit-rent, 
known as the jirma burgi. We have observed the 
especial privilege which Henry I. confirmed to Lon¬ 
don, of electing its own sheriff. London had been 
prompt in recognizing his title to the crown, and such 
support, in days when the succession was not well 
regulated, no prudent king could afford to pass by 
without some substantial acknowledgment. It was 
never safe for any king to trespass upon the liberties 
of London, and through the worst times that city has 
remained a true republic with liberal republican sen¬ 
timents. If George III. could have been guided by 
the advice of London, as expressed by its great aider- 
man Beekford, the American colonies would not have 
been driven into rebellion. 

The most signal part played by the English bor¬ 
oughs and cities, in securing English freedom, dates 
from the thirteenth century, when the nation was 
vaguely struggling for representative government on 
a national scale, as a means of curbing the power of 
the crown. In that memorable struggle, the issue of 
which to some extent prefigured the shape that the gov¬ 
ernment of the United States was to take five hundred 


110 


THE CITY. 


years afterward, tlie cities and boroughs supported 
Simon de Simon de Montfort, the leader of the pop- 
mid n th°e rt ular party and one of the foremost among 
cities - the heroes and martyrs of English liberty. 

Accordingly on the morrow of his decisive victory at 
Lewes in 1264, when for the moment he stood master 
of England, as Cromwell stood four centuries later, 
Simon called a parliament to settle the affairs of the 
kingdom, and to this parliament he invited, along with 
the lords who came by hereditary custom, not only 
two elected representatives from each rural county, 
but also two elected representatives from each city and 
borough. In this parliament, which met in 1265, 
the combination of rural with urban representatives 
brought all parts of England together in a grand 
representative body, the House of Commons, with 
interests in common ; and thus the people presently 
gained power enough to defeat all attempts to estab¬ 
lish irresponsible government, such as we call despot¬ 
ism, on the part of the crown. 

If we look at the later history of English cities and 
boroughs, it appears that, in spite of the splendid 
work which they did for the English people at large, 
they did not always succeed in preserving their own 
liberties unimpaired. London, indeed, has 

Oligarchical , . ." _ . _ 

abuses in always maintained its character as a trulv ren>- 

English . , “ # r 

15 oo 3 i 835 resen t a tive republic. 13ut m many English 
cities, during the Tudor and Stuart periods, 
the mayor and aldermen contrived to dispense with 
popular election, and thus to become close corporations 
or self-perpetuating oligarchical bodies. There was a 
notable tendency toward this sort of irresponsible 
government in the reign of James I., and the Puri¬ 
tans who came to the shores of Massachusetts Bay 
were inspired with a feeling of revolt against such 


ENGLISH BOROUGHS AND CITIES. Ill 


methods. This doubtless lent an emphasis to the 
mood in which they proceeded to organize themselves 
into free self-governing townships. The oligarchical 
abuses in English cities and boroughs remained until 
they were swept away by the great Municipal Reform 
Act of 1835. 

The first city governments established in America 
were framed in conscious imitation of the correspond¬ 
ing institutions in England. The oldest city govern¬ 
ment in the United States is that of New York. Shortly 
after the town was taken from the Dutch in 1664, the 
new governor, Colonel Nichols, put an end to its 
Dutch form of government, and appointed a mayor, 
five aldermen, and a sheriff. These officers Government 
appointed inferior officers, such as consta- ofNeVvork 
bles, and little or nothing was left to popular ( 1686 ~ 1821 )- 
election. But in 1686, under Governor Dongan, New 
York was regularly incorporated and chartered as a 
city. Its constitution bore an especially close resem¬ 
blance to that of Norwich, then the third city in Eng¬ 
land in size and importance. The city of New York 
was divided into six wards. The governing corpora¬ 
tion consisted of the mayor, the recorder, the town- 
clerk, six aldermen, and six assistants. All the land 
not taken up by individual owners was granted as public 
land to the corporation, which in return paid into the 
British exchequer one beaver-skin yearly. This was 
a survival of the old quit-rent or jirma burgi} The 
city was made a county, and thus had its court, its 
sheriff and coroner, and its high constable. Other 
officers were the chamberlain or treasurer, seven infe¬ 
rior constables, a sergeant-at-arms, and a clerk of the 
market, who inspected weights and measures, and pun- 

1 Jameson, " The Municipal Government of New York," 
Mag. Amer. Hist., vol. viii. p. 609. 


112 


THE CITY. 


ished delinquencies in the use of them. The principal 
judge was the recorder, who, as we have just seen, 
was one of the corporation. The aldermen, assist¬ 
ants, and constables were elected annually by the 
people; but the mayor and sheriff were appointed by 
the governor. The recorder, town-clerk, and clerk of 
the market were to be appointed by the king, but in 
case the king neglected to act, these appointments 
also were made by the governor. The high consta¬ 
ble was appointed by the mayor, the treasurer by 
the mayor, aldermen, and assistants, who seem to 
have answered to the ordinary common council. The 
mayor, recorder, and aldermen, without the assistants, 
were a judicial body, and held a weekly court of com¬ 
mon pleas. When the assistants were added, the 
whole became a legislative body empowered to enact 
by-laws. 

Although this charter granted very imperfect powers 
of self-government, the people contrived to live under 
it for a hundred and thirty-five years, until 1821. 
Before the Revolution their petitions succeeded in ob¬ 
taining only a few unimportant amendments. 1 When 
the British army captured the city in September, 1776, 
it was forthwith placed under martial law, and so re¬ 
mained until the army departed in November, 1788. 
During those seven years New York was not altogether 
a comfortable place in which to live. After 1788 the 
city government remained as before, except that the 
state of New York assumed the control formerly ex¬ 
ercised by the British crown. Mayor and recorder, 
town-clerk and sheriff, were now appointed by a coun¬ 
cil of appointment consisting of the governor and 
four senators. This did not work well, and the con¬ 
stitution of 1821 gave to the people the power of 

1 Especially in the so-called Montgomerie charter of 1730. 


ENGLISH BOROUGHS AND CITIES . 118 


choosing their sheriff and town-clerk, while the mayor 
was to be elected by the common council. Nothing 
but the appointment of the recorder remained in the 
hands of the governor. Thus nearly forty years after 
the close of the War of Independence the city of 
New York acquired self-government as complete as 
that of the city of London. In 1857, as we shall see, 
this self-government was greatly curtailed, with re¬ 
sults more or less disastrous. 

The next city governments to be organized in the 
American colonies, after that of New York, were 
those of Philadelphia, incorporated in 1701, and An¬ 
napolis, incorporated in 1708. These govern- city govern¬ 
ments were framed after the wretched pat- SSaddphia 
iern then so common in England. In both ( 1701_1789 )* 
cases the mayor, the recorder, the aldermen, and the 
common council constituted a close self-electing cor¬ 
poration. The resulting abuses were not so great as 
in England, probably because the cities were so small. 
But in course of time, especially in Philadelphia 
as it increased in population, the viciousness of the 
system was abundantly illustrated. As the people 
could not elect the governing corporation or any of its 
members, they very naturally and reasonably dis¬ 
trusted it, and through the legislature they contrived 
so to limit its powers of taxation that it was really 
unable to keep the streets in repair, to light them at 
night, or to support an adequate police force. An 
attempt was made to supply such wants by creating 
divers independent boards of commissioners, one for 
paving and draining, another for street-lamps and 
watchmen, a third for town-pumps, and so on. In this 
way responsibility got so minutely parcelled out and 
scattered, and there was so much jealousy and wrang¬ 
ling between the different boards and the corporation, 


114 


THE CITY. 


that the result was chaos. The public money was 
habitually wasted and occasionally embezzled, and 
there was general dissatisfaction. In 1789 the close 
corporation was abolished, and thereafter the aldermen 
and common council were elected by the citizens, the 
mayor was chosen by the aldermen out of their own 
number, and the recorder was appointed by the mayor 
and aldermen. Thus Philadelphia obtained a repre¬ 
sentative government. 

These instances of New York and Philadelphia 
sufficiently illustrate the beginnings of city govern¬ 
ment in the United States. In each case the system 
was copied from England at a time when city govern¬ 
ment in England was sadly demoralized. What was 
copied was not the free republic of London, with its 
noble traditions of civic honour and sagacious public 
spirit, but the imperfect republics or oligarchies into 
which the lesser English boroughs were sinking, amid 
the foul political intrigues and corruption which char¬ 
acterized the Stuart period. The government of 
American cities in our own time is admitted on all 
Traditions hands to be far from satisfactory. It is in- 
emment s ° v ’ teresting to observe that the cities which had 
lacking. municipal government before the Revolu¬ 
tion, though they have always had their full share of 
able and high-minded citizens, do not possess even the 
tradition of good government. And the difficulty, in 
those colonial times, was plainly want of adequate 
self-government, want of responsibility on the part of 
the public servants toward their employers the people. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

i What was the origin of the casters and chesters that are found 
in England to-day ? 

2. Trace the development of the English borough until it be¬ 
came a kind of hundred. 


ENGLISH BOROUGHS AND CITIES. 115 


3. Compare this borough with the hundred in the administra¬ 

tion of justice. 

4. Trace the further development of the borough in cases in 

which it became a county. 

5* Illustrate this development with London, showing how the 
elements of the township, the hundred, and the shire gov¬ 
ernment enter into its civic organization. 

6. Explain the origin and the objects of the various guilds. 

7. Speak of the “ town guild ” under the following heads : — 

a. Its composition and power. 

b. Its relation to citizenship. 

c. Its place of meeting. 

d. The aldermen. 

e. The common council. 

f. The chief magistrate. 

8. Compare the government of London with that of Great 

Britain or of the United States. 

9. Give some account of the lord mayor, the aldermen, and 

the councilmen of London. 

10 . Distinguish between London the city and London the me¬ 

tropolis. 

11. Show how the English cities and boroughs became bulwarks 

of liberty by (1) their facilities for obtaining justice, (2) 
the strength of their walls, and ( 3 ) the length of their 
purses. 

12 . Contrast the power of London with that of the throne. 

13. What notable advance in government was made under the 

leadership of Simon de Montfort ? 

14. What abuses crept into the government of many of the 

English cities ? 

15 . What was the Puritan attitude towards such abuses ? 

16 . Give an account of the government of New York city ; — 

a. The charter of 1686. 

b. The governing corporation. 

c. The public land. 

d. The city’s privileges as a county. 

e. Officers by election and by appointment. 
f Judicial functions. 

g. Martial law. 

h. The charter of 1821. 

17 . Give an account of the government of Philadelphia : — 
a. The governments after which it was patterned. 


116 


THE CITY. 


b. The viciousness of the system adopted. 

c. The legislative interference that was thus provoked. 

d. The division of responsibility and the results of such 

division. 

e. The nature of the changes made in 1789. 

18. Why are the traditions of good government lacking in the 
older American cities ? 

§ 3. The Government of Cities in the United /States. 

At the present day American municipal govern¬ 
ments are for the most part constructed on the same 
general plan, though with many variations in detail, 
several fea- There is an executive department, with the 
dty e go°vera- r mayor at its head. The mayor is elected 
merits. by the voters of the city, and holds office 
generally for one year, but sometimes for two or 
three years, and in St. Louis, Philadelphia, and 
66 Greater New York ” even for four years. Under 
the mayor are various heads of departments, — street 
commissioners, assessors, overseers of the poor, etc., 
— sometimes elected by the citizens, sometimes ap¬ 
pointed by the mayor or the city council. This city 
council is a legislative body, usually consisting of two 
chambers, the aldermen and the common council, 
elected by the citizens; but in many small cities, and 
a few of the largest, such as Chicago and San Fran¬ 
cisco, there is but one such chamber. Then there are 
city judges, sometimes appointed by the governor of 
the state, to serve for life or during good behaviour, 
but usually elected by the citizens for short terms. 

All appropriations of money for city purposes are 
made by the city council; and as a general rule this 
council has some control over the heads of executive 
departments, which it exercises through committees. 
Thus there may be a committee upon streets, upon 
public buildings, upon parks or almshouses or what* 


THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES. 117 


ever the municipal government is concerned with. 
The head of a department is more or less dependent 
upon his committee, and in practice this is found to 
divide and weaken responsibility. The heads of de¬ 
partments are apt to be independent of one another, 
and to owe no allegiance in common to any one. 
The mayor, when he appoints them, usually does so 
subject to the approval of the city council or of one 
branch of it. The mayor is usually not a member of 
the city council, but can veto its enactments, which 
however can be passed over his veto by a two thirds 
majority. 

City governments thus constituted are something 
like state governments in miniature. The relation 
of the mayor to the city council is somewhat like that 
of the governor to the state legislature, and of the 
president to the national congress. In theory They do nQt 
nothing could well be more republican, or seem to work 
more unlike such city governments as those 
of New York and Philadelphia before the Revolution. 
Yet in practice it does not seem to work well. New 
York and Philadelphia seem to have heard as many 
complaints in the nineteenth century as in the eigh¬ 
teenth, and the same kind of complaints, — of exces» 
sive taxation, public money wasted or embezzled, ill- 
paved and dirty streets, inefficient police, and so on 
to the end of the chapter. In most of our large cities 
similar evils have been witnessed, and in too many of 
the smaller ones the trouble seems to be the same in 
kind, only less in degree. Our republican government, 
which, after making all due allowances, seems to work 
remarkably well in rural districts, and in the states, 
and in the nation, has certainly been far less success¬ 
ful as applied to cities. Accordingly our cities have 
come to furnish topics for reflection to which writers 


118 


THE CITY . 


and orators fond of boasting the unapproachable ex 
cellence of American institutions do not like to allude? 
Fifty years ago we were wont to speak of civil govern¬ 
ment in the United States as if it had dropped from 
heaven or had been specially created by some kind of 
miracle upon American soil; and we were apt to think 
that in mere republican forms there was some kind 
of mystic virtue which made them a panacea for all 
political evils. Our later experience with cities has 
rudely disturbed this too confident frame of mind. 
It has furnished facts which do not seem to fit our 
self-complacent theory, so that now our writers and 
speakers are inclined to vent their sjdeen upon the 
unhappy cities, perhaps too unreservedly. We hear 
them called “ foul sinks of corruption ” and “ plague 
spots on our body politic.” Yet in all probability our 
cities are destined to increase in number and to grow 
larger and larger; so that perhaps it is just as well to 
consider them calmly, as presenting problems which 
had not been thought of when our general theory of 
government was first worked out a hundred years ago, 
but which, after we have been sufficiently taught by 
experience, we may hope to succeed in solving, just 
as we have heretofore succeeded in other things. A 
general discussion of the subject does not fall within 
the province of this brief historical sketch. But our 
account would be very incomplete if we were to stop 
short of mentioning some of the recent attempts that 
have been made toward reconstructing our theories of 
city government and improving its practical working, 
some diffi *-A-nd letus point out a few of the pecul- 
stated 8 tobe * ar difficulties the problem, that we may 
see why we might have been expected, up to 
the present time, to have been less successful in man¬ 
aging our great cities than in managing our rural 
communities, and our states, and our nation. 


THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES. 119 


In the first place, the problem is comparatively new 
and has taken us unawares. At the time of Wash¬ 
ington’s inauguration to the presidency there were no 
large cities in the United States. Philadelphia had 
a population of 42,000; New York had Rapid 
33,000; Boston, which came next, with 
18,000, was not yet a city. Then came cities * 
Baltimore, with 13,000 ; while Brooklyn was a village 
of 1,600 souls. Now these cities have a population 
of nearly 6,000,000, or much more than that of the 
United States in 1789. And consider how rapidly 
new cities have been added to the list. One hardly 
needs to mention the most striking cases, such as Chi¬ 
cago, with 4,000 inhabitants in 1840, and more than 
1,500,000 in 1898; or Denver, with its miles of hand¬ 
some streets and shops, and not one native inhabitant 
who has reached his thirtieth birthday. Such facts 
are summed up in the general statement that, whereas 
in 1790 the population of the United States was 
scarcely 4,000,000, and out of each 100 inhabitants 
only 3 dwelt in cities and the other 97 in rural places; 
on the other hand in 1880, when the population was 
more than 50,000,000, out of each 100 inhabitants 23 
dwelt in cities and 77 in rural places. But duly to 
appreciate the rapidity of this growth of cities, we 
must observe that most of it has been subsequent to 
1840. In 1790 there were six towns in the United 
States that might be ranked as cities from their size, 
though to get this number we must include Boston. 
In 1800 the number was the same. By 1810 the 
number had risen from 6 to 11; by 1820 it had 
reached 13 ; by 1830 this thirteen had doubled and 
become 26; and in 1840 there were 44 cities al¬ 
together. The urban population increased from 
210,873 in 1800 to 1,453,994 in 1840. But be- 


120 


THE CITY. 


tween 1840 and 1880 the number of new cities which 
came into existence was 242, and the urban popula¬ 
tion increased to 11,818,547. Nothing like this was 
ever known before in any part of the world, and per¬ 
haps it is not strange that such a tremendous develop¬ 
ment did not find our methods of government fully 
prepared to deal with it. 

This rapidity of growth has entailed some impor¬ 
tant consequences. In the first place it obliges the 
Some conse- city to make great outlays of money in order 
thferapid^ to get immediate results. Public works 
growth. mus t be undertaken with a view to quick¬ 
ness rather than thoroughness. Pavements, sewers, 
and reservoirs of some sort must be had at once, even 
if inadequately planned and imperfectly constructed; 
and so, before a great while, the work must be done 
over again. Such conditions of imperative haste in¬ 
crease the temptations to dishonesty as well as the 
liability to errors of judgment on the part of the men 
who administer the public funds. 1 Then the rapid 
growth of a city, especially of a new city, requiring the 
immediate construction of a certain amount of public 
works, almost necessitates the borrowing of money, 
and debt means heavy taxes. It is like the case of 
a young man who, in order to secure a home for his 
quickly growing family, buys a house under a heavy 
mortgage. Twice a year there comes in a great bill 
for interest, and in order to meet it he must econo¬ 
mize in his table or now and then deny himself a new 
suit of clothes. So if a city has to tax heavily to pay 

1 This and some of the following considerations have been 
ably set forth and illustrated by Hon. Seth Low, president of 
Columbia College, and lately mayor of Brooklyn, in an address 
at Johns Hopkins University, published in J. H. U . Studies, 
Supplementary Notes , no. 4. 


THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES. 121 


its debts, it must cut down its current expenses some¬ 
where, and the results are sure to be visible in more 
or less untidiness and inefficiency. Mr. Low tells us 
that “ very few of our American cities have yet paid 
in full the cost of their original water-works.” Lastly, 
much wastefulness results from want of foresight. It 
is not easy to predict how a city will grow, or the na¬ 
ture of its needs a few years hence. Moreover, even 
when it is easy enough to predict a result, it is not 
easy to secure practical foresight on the part of a city 
council elected for the current year. Its w t f 
members are afraid of making taxes too practical 
heavy this year, and considerations of ten 
years hence are apt to be dismissed as “ visionary.” 
It is always hard for us to realize how terribly soon 
ten years hence will be here. The habit of doing 
things by halves has been often commented on (and, 
perhaps, even more by our own writers than by for¬ 
eigners) as especially noticeable in America. It has 
doubtless been fostered by the conditions which in so 
many cases have made it absolutely necessary to adopt 
temporary makeshifts. These conditions have pro¬ 
duced a certain habit of mind. 

Let us now observe that as cities increase in size 
the amount of government that is necessary tends in 
some respects to increase. Wherever there „ 

1 # Growth in 

is a crowd there is likely to be some need of complexity 

•> of govern- 

rules and regulations. In the country a “ eilt in 

man may build his house pretty much as he 
pleases; but in the city he may be forbidden to build 
it of wood, and perhaps even the thickness of the 
party walls or the position of the chimneys may come 
in for some supervision on the part of the govern¬ 
ment. For further precaution against spreading fires, 
the city has an organized force of men, with costly 


122 


THE CITY. 


engines, engine-houses, and stables. In the country 
a board of health has comparatively little to do; in 
the city it is often confronted with difficult sanitary 
problems which call for highly paid professional skill 
on the part of physicians and chemists, architects and 
plumbers, masons and engineers. So, too, the water 
supply of a great city is likely to be a complicated 
business, and the police force may well need as much 
management as a small army. In short, with a city, 
increase in size is sure to involve increase in complex- 
ity of organization, and this means a vast increase in 
the number of officials for doing the work and of de¬ 
tails to be superintended. For example, let us enu¬ 
merate the executive department and officers of the 
city of Boston at the present time. 

There are three street commissioners with power to 
lay out streets and assess damages thereby occasioned. 
These are elected by the people. The following offi¬ 
cers are appointed by the mayor, with the con- 
offleers in currence of the aldermen : a superintendent 
of streets, an inspector of buildings, three 
commissioners each for the fire and health departments, 
four overseers of the poor, besides a board of nine 
directors for the management of almshouses, houses of 
correction, lunatic hospital, etc.; a city hospital board 
of five members, five trustees of the public library, 
three commissioners each for parks and water-works; 
five chief assessors, to estimate the value of property 
and assess city, county, and state taxes ; a city collec¬ 
tor, a superintendent of public buildings, five trus¬ 
tees of Mount Hope Cemetery, six sinking fund com¬ 
missioners, two record commissioners, three registrars 
of voters, a registrar of births, deaths, and marriages, 
a city treasurer, city auditor, city solicitor, corporation 
counsel, city architect, city surveyor, superintendent of 


THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES. 


123 


Faneuil Hall Market, superintendent of street lights, 
superintendent of sewers, superintendent of printing, 
superintendent of bridges, five directors of ferries, 
harbour master and ten assistants, water registrar, in¬ 
spector of provisions, inspector of milk and vinegar, 
a sealer and four deputy sealers of weights and meas¬ 
ures, an inspector of lime, three inspectors of petro¬ 
leum, fifteen inspectors of pressed hay, a culler of 
hoops and staves, three fence-viewers, ten field-drivers 
and pound-keepers, three surveyors of marble, nine 
superintendents of hay scales, four measurers of upper 
leather, fifteen measurers of wood and bark, twenty 
measurers of grain, three weighers of beef, thirty- 
eight weighers of coal, five weighers of boilers and 
heavy machinery, four weighers of ballast and lighters, 
ninety-two undertakers, 150 constables, 968 election 
officers and their deputies. A few of these officials 
serve without pay, some are paid by salaries fixed by 
the council, some by fees. Besides these there is a 
clerk of the common council elected by that body, and 
also the city clerk, city messenger, and clerk of com¬ 
mittees, in whose election both branches of the city 
council concur. The school committee, of twenty- 
four members, elected by the people, is distinct from 
the rest of the city government, and so is the board of 
police, composed of three commissioners appointed by 
the state executive. 1 

This long list may serve to give some idea of the 
mere quantity of administrative work re- Howcity 
quired in a large city. Obviously under f” 6 ™™£ 
such circumstances city government must be- a mystery< 
come more or less of a mystery to the great mass of cit¬ 
izens. They cannot watch its operations as the inhab- 
1 Bugbee, “ The City Government of Boston,” J. H. U. Studies, 
V., iii. 


124 


THE CITY. 


itants of a small .village can watch the proceedings of 
their township and county governments. Much work 
must go on which cannot even be intelligently crit¬ 
icised without such special knowledge as it would be 
idle to expect in the average voter, or perhaps in any 
voter. It becomes exceedingly difficult for the tax¬ 
payer to understand just what his money goes for, or 
how far the city expenses might reasonably be reduced; 
and it becomes correspondingly easy for municipal cor¬ 
ruption to start and acquire a considerable headway 
before it can be detected and checked. 

In some respects city government is harder to watch 
intelligently than the government of the state or of 
the nation. For these wider governments are to some 
„ extent limited to work of general siipervi- 

In some re- . ° 

spects it ia s ion. As compared with the city, they are 

more of a * * ’ J 

mystery more concerned with the establishment and 

than state . , 

and national enforcement of certain general principles, 

government. t ' . 

and less with the administration of endlessly 
complicated details. I do not mean to be understood 
as saying that there is not plenty of intricate detail 
about state and national governments. I am only 
comparing one thing with another, and it seems to me 
that one chief* difficulty with city government is the 
bewildering vastness and multifariousness of the de¬ 
tails with which it is concerned. The modern city 
has come to be a huge corporation for carrying on a 
huge business with many branches, most of which call 
for special aptitude and training. 

As these points have gradually forced themselves 
upon public attention there has been a tendency in many 
The mayor of our large cities toward remodelling their 
tio fi nttie ad governments on new principles. The most 
power. noticeable feature of this tendency is the 
increase in the powers of the mayor. A hundred 


THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES. 125 

years ago our legislators and constitution-makers were 
much afraid of what was called the “ one-man power.” 
In nearly all the colonies a chronic quarrel had been 
kept up between the governors appointed by the king 
and the legislators elected by the people, and this had 
made the “ one-man power ” very unpopular. Besides, 
it was something that had been unpopular in ancient 
Greece and Rome, and it was thought to be essentially 
unrepublican in principle. Accordingly our great¬ 
grandfathers preferred to entrust executive powers to 
committees rather than to single individuals; and when 
they assigned an important office to an individual they 
usually took pains to curtail its power and influence. 
This disposition was visible in our early attempts to 
organize city governments like little republics. First, 
in the board of aldermen and the common council we 
had a two-chambered legislature. Then, lest the mayor 
should become dangerous, the veto power was at first 
generally withheld from him, and his appointments of 
executive officers needed to be confirmed by at least 
one branch of the city council. These executive offi¬ 
cers, moreover, as already observed, were subject to 
more or less control or oversight from committees of 
the city council. 

Now this system, in depriving the mayor of power, 
deprived him of responsibility, and left the responsi¬ 
bility nowhere in particular. In making ap- scattering 
pointments the mayor and council would en£igof k re- 
come to some sort of compromise with each s P° nsiblllt y- 
other and exchange favours. Perhaps for private 
reasons incompetent or dishonest officers would get 
appointed, and if the citizens ventured to complain 
the mayor would say that he appointed as good men 
as the council could be induced to confirm, and the 
council would declare their willingness to confirm 


126 


THE CITY . 


good appointments if the mayor could only he per¬ 
suaded to make them. 

Then the want of subordination of the different 
executive departments made it impossible to secure 
unity of administration or to carry out any consistent 
and generally intelligible policy. Between the vari¬ 
ous executive officers and visiting committees there 
was apt to be a more or less extensive interchange of 
favours, or what is called “log-rolling ; ” and sums of 
money would be voted by the council only thus to 
leak away in undertakings the propriety or necessity 
of which was perhaps hard to determine. There was 
no responsible head who could be quickly and sharply 
called to account. Each official’s hands were so tied 
that whatever went wrong he could declare that it was 
not his fault. The confusion was enhanced by the 
practice of giving executive work to committees or 
Committees boards instead of single officers. Benjamin 
forexecutive Franklin used to say, If you wish to be sure 
purposes. that a thing j s done, go and do it yourself. 
Human experience certainly proves that this is the 
only absolutely safe way. The next best way is to 
send some competent person to do it for you ; and if 
there is no one competent to be had, you do the next 
best thing and entrust the work to the least incompe¬ 
tent person you can find. If you entrust it to a com¬ 
mittee your prospect of getting it done is diminished, 
and it grows less if you enlarge your committee. By 
the time you have got a group of committees, inde¬ 
pendent of one another and working at cross pur¬ 
poses, you have got Dickens’s famous Circumlocution 
Office, where the great object in life was “ how not to 
do it.” 

Amid the general dissatisfaction over the extrava¬ 
gance and inefficiency of our city governments, peo- 


THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES. 


127 


pie’s attention was first drawn to the rapid and alarm¬ 
ing increase of city indebtedness in various Increase o£ 
parts of the country. A heavy debt may city debt s- 
ruin a city as surely as an individual, for it raises the 
rate of taxation, and thus, as was above pointed out, it 
tends to frighten people and capital away from the city. 
At first it was sought to curb the recklessness of city 
councils in incurring lavish expenditures by giving 
the mayor a veto power. Laws were also passed lim¬ 
iting the amount of debt which a city would be allowed 
to incur under any circumstances. Clothing the 
mayor with the veto power is now seen to have been a 
wise step; and arbitrary limitation of the amount of 
debt, though a clumsy expedient, is confessedly a 
necessary one. But beyond this, it was in some in¬ 
stances attempted to take the management 
of some departments of city business out of cure the 
the hands of the city and put them into the fnterfer- tate 
hands of the state legislature. The most rience of** 
notable instance of this was in New York in 
1857. The results, there and elsewhere, have been 
generally regarded as unsatisfactory. After a trial of 
thirty years the experience of New York has proved 
that a state legislature is not competent to take proper 
care of the government of cities. Its members do not 
know enough about the details of each locality, and con¬ 
sequently local affairs are left to the representatives 
from each locality, with “ log-rolling ” as the inevita¬ 
ble result. A man fresh from his farm on the edge 
of the Adirondacks knows nothing about the problems 
pertaining to electric wires in Broadway, or to rapid 
transit between Harlem and the Battery; and his 
consent to desired legislation on such points can very 
likely be obtained only by favouring some measure 
which he thinks will improve the value of his farm, or 


128 


THE CITY. 


perhaps by helping him to debauch the civil service 
by getting some neighbour appointed to a position for 
which he is not qualified. All this is made worse by the 
fact that the members of a state government are gen¬ 
erally less governed by a sense of responsibility toward 
the citizens of a particular city than even the worst 
local government that can be set up in such a city. 1 

Moreover, even if legislatures were otherwise com¬ 
petent to manage the local affairs of cities, they have 
not time enough, amid the pressure of other duties, 
to do justice to such matters. In 1870 the number 
of acts passed by the New York legislature was 808. 
Of these, 212, or more than one fourth of the whole, 
related to cities and villages. The 808 acts, when 
printed, filled about 2,000 octavo pages; and of these 
the 212 acts filled more than 1,500 pages. This illus¬ 
trates what I said above about the vast quantity of 
details which have to be regulated in municipal gov¬ 
ernment. Here we have more than three fourths of 
the volume of state-legislation devoted to local af¬ 
fairs ; and it hardly need be added that a great part 
of these enactments were worse than worthless because 

1 It is not intended to deny that there may be instances in 
which the state government may advantageously participate in 
the government of cities. It may be urged that, in the case of 
great cities, like New York or Boston, many people who are not 
residents either do business in the city or have vast business in¬ 
terests there, and thus may be as deeply interested in its welfare 
as any of the voters. It may also be said that state provisions 
for city government do not always work badly. There are many 
competent judges who approve of the appointment of police 
commissioners by the executive of Massachusetts. There are 
generally two sides to a question; and to push a doctrine to ex¬ 
tremes is to make oneself a doctrinaire rather than a wise citi¬ 
zen. But experience clearly shows that in all doubtful cases it is 
safer to let the balance incline in favour of local self-government 
than the other way. 


THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES. 


129 


they were made hastily and without due consideration, 
— though not always, perhaps, without what lawyers 
call a consideration. 1 

The experience of New York thus proved that state 
intervention and special legislation did not mend mat¬ 
ters. It did not prevent the shameful rule of the 
Tweed Ring from 1868 to 1871, when a T 
small band of conspirators got themselves in New ^ 
elected or appointed to the principal city 
offices, and, having had their own corrupt creatures 
chosen judges of the city courts, proceeded to rob the 
taxpayers at their leisure. By the time they were 
discovered and brought to justice, their stealings 
amounted to many millions of dollars, and the rate of 
taxation had risen to more than two per cent. 

The discovery of these wholesale robberies, and of 
other villainies on a smaller scale in other cities, has 
led to much discussion of the problems of municipal 
government, and to many attempts at practical re- 

1 Nothing could be further from my thought than to cast any 
special imputation upon the New York legislature, which is 
probably a fair average specimen of law-making bodies. The 
theory of legislative bodies, as laid down in text-books, is that 
they are assembled for the purpose of enacting laws for the 
welfare of the community in general. In point of fact they 
seldom rise to such a lofty height of disinterestedness. Legisla¬ 
tion is usually a mad scramble in which the final result, be it 
good or bad, gets evolved out of compromises and bargains 
among a swarm of clashing local and personal interests. The 
“ consideration ’ ’ may be anything from log-rolling to bribery. 
In American legislatures it is to be hoped that downright brib¬ 
ery is rare. As for log-rolling, or exchange of favours, there 
are many phases of it in which that which may be perfectly in¬ 
nocent shades off by almost imperceptible degrees into that 
which is unseemly or dishonourable or even criminal ; and it is 
in this hazy region that Satan likes to set his traps for the un¬ 
wary pilgrim. 


130 THE CITY. 

form. The present is especially a period of experi- 
Newexperi. ments, yet in these experiments perhaps a 
ments - general drift of opinion may be discerned. 
People seem to be coming to regard cities more as if 
they were huge business corporations than as if they 
were little republics. The lesson has been learned 
that in executive matters too much limitation of 
power entails destruction of responsibility ; the “ ring ” 
is now more dreaded than the “ one-man power; ” and 
there is accordingly a manifest tendency to assail the 
evil by concentrating power and responsibility in the 
mayor. 

The first great city to adopt this method was Brook¬ 
lyn. 1 In the first place the city council was simplified 

and made a one-chambered council consist- 

New govern* 

ment of incr 0 f nineteen aldermen. Besides this 

Brooklyn. ° 

council of aldermen, the people elect only 
three city officers, — the mayor, comptroller, and 
auditor. The comptroller is the principal finance 
officer and book-keeper of the city; and the auditor 
must approve bills against the city, whether great or 
small, before they can be paid. The mayor appoints, 
without confirmation by the council, all executive 
heads of departments; and these executive heads are 
individuals, not boards. Thus there is a single police 
commissioner, a single fire commissioner, a single 
health commissioner, and so on; and each of these 
heads appoints his own subordinates; “ so that the 
principle of defined responsibility permeates the city 
government from top to bottom.” 2 In a few cases, 
where the work to be done is rather discretionary 
than executive in character, it is intrusted to a board; 
thus there is a board of assessors, a board of educa- 

1 When Brooklyn was a municipality within itself, and before 
its consolidation with New York. 

2 Seth Low on “ Municipal Government,” in Bryce’s Amer¬ 
ican Commonwealth , vol. i. p. G26. 


THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES. 131 

tion, and a board of elections. These are all ap¬ 
pointed by the mayor, but for terms not coinciding 
with his own; 44 so that, in most cases, no mayor 
would appoint the whole of any such board unless he 
were to be twice elected by the people."’ But the 
executive officers are appointed by the mayor for 
terms coincident with his own, that is for two years. 
44 The mayor is elected at the general election in No¬ 
vember ; he takes office on the first of January fol¬ 
lowing, and for one month the great departments of 
the city are carried on for him by the appointees of 
his predecessor. On the first of February it becomes 
his duty to appoint his own heads of departments,” 
and thus 44 each incoming mayor has the opportunity 
to make an administration in all its parts in sympathy 
with himself.” 

With all these immense executive powers entrusted 
to the mayor, however, he does not hold the purse¬ 
strings. He is a member of a board of estimate, of 
which the other four members are the comptroller and 
auditor, with the county treasurer and supervisor. 
This board recommends the amounts to be raised by 
taxation for the ensuing year. These estimates are 
then laid before the council of aldermen, who may 
cut down single items as they see fit, but have not the 
power to increase any item. The mayor must see to 
it that the administrative work of the year does not 
use up more money than is thus allowed him. 

This Brooklyn system has great merits. It ensures 
unity of administration, it encourages promptness and 
economy, it locates and defines responsibility, and it is 
so simple that everybody can understand it. The peo¬ 
ple, having but few officers to elect, are more Some o{ it8 
likely to know something about them. Es- ments * 
pecially since everybody understands that the success 


132 


THE CITY. 


of the government depends upon the character of the 
mayor, extraordinary pains are taken to secure good 
mayors; and the increased interest in city politics is 
shown by the fact that in Brooklyn more people vote 
for mayor than for governor or for president. Fifty 
years ago such a reduction in the number of elective 
officers would have greatly shocked all good Ameri¬ 
cans. But in point of fact, while in small townships 
where everybody knows everybody popular control is 
best ensured by electing all public officers, it is very 
different in great cities where it is impossible that the 
voters in general should know much about the quali¬ 
fications of a long list of candidates. In such cases 
citizens are apt to vote blindly for names about which 
they know nothing except that they occur on a Re¬ 
publican or a Democratic ticket; although, if the ob¬ 
ject of a municipal election is simply to secure an 
upright and efficient municipal government, to elect 
a city magistrate because he is a Republican or a 
Democrat is about as sensible as to elect him because 
he believes in homoeopathy or has a taste for chrysan¬ 
themums. 1 To vote for candidates whom one has 

1 Of course from the point of view of the party politician, it 
is quite different. Each party has its elaborate “machine ” for 
electing state and national officers; and in order to be kept at 
its maximum of efficiency the machine must be kept at work on 
all occasions, whether such occasions are properly concerned 
with differences in party politics or not. To the party politician 
it of course makes a great difference whether a city magistrate 
is a Republican or a Democrat. To him even the political com¬ 
plexion of his mail-carrier is a matter of importance. But these 
illustrations only show that party politics may be carried to ex¬ 
tremes that are inconsistent with the best interests of the com¬ 
munity. Once in a while it becomes necessary to teach party 
organizations to know their place, and to remind them that they 
are not the lords and masters but the servants and instruments 
of the people. 


THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES. 138 


never heard of is not to insure popular control, but 
to endanger it. It is much better to vote for one 
man whose reputation we know, and then to hold 
him strictly responsible for the appointments he 
makes. The Brooklyn system seems to be a step to¬ 
ward lifting city government out of the mire of party 
politics. 

This system went into operation in Brooklyn in 
January, 1882, and seems to have given general satis¬ 
faction. Since then changes in a similar direction, 
though with variations in detail, have been made in 
other cities, and notably in Philadelphia. 

In speaking of the difficulties which beset city gov¬ 
ernment in the United States, mention is often (and 
perhaps too exclusively) made of the great mass of 
ignorant voters, chiefly foreigners without experience 
in self-government, with no comprehension of Ameri¬ 
can principles and traditions, and with little Notion that 
or no property to suffer from excessive taxa- oughttobe 
tion. Such people will naturally have slight restricted - 
compunctions about voting away other people’s money; 
indeed, they are apt to think that “ the Government ” 
has got Aladdin’s lamp hidden away somewhere in a 
burglar-proof safe, and could do pretty much every¬ 
thing that is wanted, if it only would. In the hands 
of demagogues such people may be dangerous, they 
are supposed to be especially accessible to humbug 
and bribes, and their votes have no doubt been used 
to sustain and perpetuate most flagrant abuses. We 
often hear it said that the only way to get good gov¬ 
ernment is to deprive such people of their votes and 
limit the suffrage to persons who have some property 
at stake. Such a measure has been seriously recom¬ 
mended in New York, but it is generally felt to be 
impossible without a revolution. 


134 


THE CITY. 


Testimony 
of Pennsyl¬ 
vania Muni¬ 
cipal Com¬ 
mission. 


Perhaps, after all, it may not be so desirable as it 
seems. The ignorant vote has done a great deal of 
harm, but not all the harm. In 1878 it was 
reported by the Pennsylvania Municipal 
Commission, “ as a remarkable but notorious 
fact, that the accumulations of debt in Philar 
delphia and other cities of the state have been due, 
not to a non-property-holding, irresponsible element 
among the electors, but to the desire for speculation 
among the property-owners themselves. Large tracts 
of land outside the built-up portion of the city have 
been purchased, combinations made among men of 
wealth, and councils besieged until they have been 
driven into making appropriations to open and im¬ 
prove streets and avenues, largely in advance of the 
real necessities of the city. Extraordinary as the 
statement may seem at first, the experience of the 
past shows clearly that frequently property-owners 
need more protection against themselves than against 
the non-property-holding class.” 1 This is a statement 
of profound significance, and should be duly pondered 
by advocates of a restricted suffrage. 

It should also be borne in mind that, while ignorant 
and needy voters, led by unscrupulous demagogues, 
are capable of doing much harm with their votes, it 
* . is by no means clear that the evil would be 

Dangers of a ^ 

suffrage** removed by depriving them of the suffrage. 

It is very unsafe to have in any community 
a large class of people who feel that political rights 
or privileges are withheld from them by other people 
who are their superiors in wealth or knowledge. 
Such poor people are apt to have exaggerated ideas 
of what a vote can do; very likely they think it is be* 

1 Allinson and Penrose, Philadelphia, 1681-1887 ; a History 
of Municipal Development, p. 278. 


THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES. 


135 


cause they do not have votes that they are poor; thus 
they are ready to entertain revolutionary or anarchical 
ideas, and are likely to be more dangerous material 
in the hands of demagogues than if they were allowed 
to vote. Universal suffrage has its evils, but it un¬ 
doubtedly acts as a safety-valve. The only cure for 
the evils which come from ignorance and shiftlessness 
is the abolition of ignorance and shiftlessness; and 
this is slow work. Church and school here find 
enough to keep them busy; but the vote itself, even 
if often misused, is a powerful educator; and we need 
not regret that the restriction of the suffrage has come 
to be practically impossible. 

The purification of our city governments will never 
be completed until they are entirely divorced from 
national party politics. The connection opens a lim¬ 
itless field for “ log-rolling,” and rivets upon cities 
the “ spoils system,” which is always and everywhere 
incompatible with good government. It is Banefu i 
worthy of note that the degradation of so jSSgdty 
many English boroughs and cities during natSnai wlth 
the Tudor and Stuart periods was chiefly polltlcs * 
due to the encroachment of national politics upon 
municipal politics. Because the borough returned 
members to the House of Commons, it became worth 
while for the crown to intrigue with the municipal 
government, with the ultimate object ox influencing 
parliamentary elections. The melancholy history of 
the consequent dickering and dealing, jobbery and 
robbery, down to 1835, when the great Municipal 
Corporations Act swept it all away, may be read with 
profit by all Americans. 1 It was the city of London 
only, whose power and independence had kept it free 

1 See Parliamentary Reports, 1835, “Municipal Corporations 
Commission ; ” also Sir Erskine May, Const. Hist., vol. ii. chap. xv. 


136 


THE CITY. 


from complications with national politics, that avoided 
the abuses elsewhere prevalent, so that it was excepted 
from the provisions of the Act of 1835, and still re¬ 
tains its ancient constitution. 

In the United States the entanglement of municipal 
with national politics has begun to be regarded as 
mischievous and possibly dangerous, and attempts 
have in some cases been made toward checking it by 
changing the days of election, so that municipal offi¬ 
cers may not be chosen at the same time with presi¬ 
dential electors. Such a change is desirable, but to 
obtain a thoroughly satisfactory result, it will be 
necessary to destroy the “spoils system” root and 
branch, and to adopt effective measures of ballot re¬ 
form. To these topics I shall recur when treating of 
our national government. But first we shall have to 
consider the development of our several states. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

Give an account of city government in the United States, 
under the following heads : — 

1. The American city : — 

a. The mayor. 

b. The heads of departments. 

c. The city council. 

d. The judges. 

e. Appropriations. 

f. The power of committees. 

2 . The practical workings of city governments : — 

a. The contrast they shpw between theory and practice. 

b. Various complaints urged against city governments. 

c. Their effect upon the old-time confidence in the perfection 

of our institutions. 

3 . The growth of American cities : — 

a. The cities of Washington’s time and those of to-day. 

b. The population of cities in 1790 and their population to. 

day. 

c. City growth since 1840. 


THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES . 


137 


4. Some consequences of rapid city growth : — 

a. The pressure to construct public works. 

b. The incurring of heavy debts. 

c. The wastefulness due to a lack of foresight. 

d. The increase in government due to the complexity of a 

city. 

e. An illustration of this complexity in Boston. 

/. The consequent mystery that enshrouds much of city gov¬ 
ernment. 

5 . Some evils due to the fear of a “one-man” power : — 

a. The objection to such power a century ago. 

b. Restrictions imposed upon the mayor’s power. 

c. The division and weakening of responsibility. 

d. The lack of unity in the administration of business. 

e. The inefficiency of committees for executive purposes. 

f. The alarming increase in city debts. 

6 . Attempts to remedy some of the evils of city government : — 

a. The power of veto granted to the mayor. 

b. The limitation of city indebtedness. 

c. State control of some city departments. 

7 . Difficulties inherent in state control of cities : — 

a. Lack of familiarity with city affairs. 

b. The tendency to “ log-rolling.” 

c. Lack of time due to the pressure of state affairs. 

d. The failure of state control as shown in the rule of the 

Tweed ring. 

8 . The government of the city of Brooklyn : — 

a. The elevation of the “ one-man ” power above that of 

the “ring.” 

b. Officers elected by the people. 

c. Officers appointed by the mayor. 

d. The principle of well-defined responsibility. 

e. The appointment of certain boards by the mayor. 

f. The holding of the purse-strings. 

g. The inadequacy of the township elective system in a city 

like Brooklyn. 

9 . Restriction of the suffrage : — 

a. The dangers from large masses of ignorant voters. 

b. The responsibility for the debt of Philadelphia and other 

cities. 

c. The dangers from large classes who feel that political 

rights are denied them. 

d. Suffrage as a “ safety-valve.” 


138 


THE CITY. 


io. The mixture of city politics with those of the state or nation : — 

a. The degradation of the English borough. 

b. The exemption of London from the Municipal Corporations 

Act. 

c. The importance of separate days for municipal elections. 

d. The importance of abolishing the “ spoils system.” 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS. 

(Chiefly for pupils who live in cities.) 

1. When was your city organized ? 

2 . Give some account of its growth, its size, and its present 

population. How many wards has it ? Give their boun¬ 
daries. In which ward do you live ? 

3 . Examine its charter, and report a few of its leading provi¬ 

sions. 

4 . What description of government in this chapter comes nearest 

to that of your city ? 

5 . Consider the suggestions about the study of town government 

(pp. 43, 44), and act upon such of them as are applica¬ 
ble to city government. 

6 . What is the general impression about the purity of your city 

government ? (Consult several citizens and report what 
you find out.) 

7 . What important caution should be observed about vague 

rumours of inefficiency or corruption ? 

8 . What are the evidences of a sound financial condition in a 

city? 

9 . Is the financial condition of your city sound ? 

10 . When debts are incurred, are provisions made at the same 

time for meeting them when due ? 

11 . What are “ sinking funds ” ? 

12 . What wants has a city that a town is free from ? 

13 . Describe your system of public water works, making an 

analysis of important points that may be presented. 

14 . Do the same for your park system or any other system that 

involves a long time for its completion as well as a great 
outlay. 

15 . Are the principles of civil service reform recognized in your 

city ? If so, to what extent ? Do they need to be ex¬ 
tended further ? 

16 . Describe the parties that contended for the supremacy in 


THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES. 139 


your last city election and tell what questions were at is¬ 
sue between them. 

17 . What great corporations exert an influence in your city af¬ 

fairs ? Is such influence bad because it is great ? What 
is a possible danger from such influence ? 

18 . In view of the vast number and range of city interests, what 

is the most that the average citizen can reasonably be 
asked to know and to do about them ? What things is 
it indispensable for him to know and to do if he is to con¬ 
tribute to good government ? 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 


§ 1. Direct and Indirect Government. — The transition 
from direct to indirect government, as illustrated in the gradual 
development of a township into a city, may be profitably studied 
in Quincy’s Municipal History of Boston , Boston, 1852 ; and in 
Winsor’s Memorial History of Boston, vol. iii. pp. 189-302, Bos¬ 
ton, 1881. 

§ 2. Origin of English Boroughs and Cities. — See 
Loftie’s History of London , 2 vols., London, 1883 ; Toulmin 
Smith’s English Gilds , with Introduction by Lujo Brentano, Lon¬ 
don, 1870 ; and the histories of the English Constitution, espe¬ 
cially those of Gneist, Stubbs, Taswell-Langmead, and Hannis 
Taylor. 

§ 3. Government of Cities in the United States. — 
J. H. U. Studies, III., xi.-xii., J. A. Porter, The City of Wash¬ 
ington ; IV., iv., W. P. Holcomb, Pennsylvania Boroughs ; lV.,x., 
C. H. Le verm ore, Town and City Government of New Haven; 
V., i.-ii., Allinson and Penrose, City Government of Philadelphia ; 
V., iii., J. M. Bugbee, The City Government of Boston ; V., iv., 
M. S. Snow, The City Government of St. Louis ; VII., ii-iii., B. 
Moses, Establishment of Municipal Government in San Francisco ; 
VII., iv., W. W. Howe, Municipal History of New Orleans ; also 
Supplementary Notes, No. 4, Seth Low, The Problem of City Gov¬ 
ernment (compare No. 1, Albert Shaw, Municipal Government in 
England). See, also, the supplementary volumes published at 
Baltimore, — Levermore’s Republic of New Haven , 1886, Allin¬ 
son and Penrose’s Philadelphia, 1681-1887 : a History of Muni¬ 
cipal Development, 1887. 




CHAPTER VI 


THE STATE. 


Claims of . 0 

Spain to the U nited States. 


§ 1. The Colonial Governments. 

In the year 1600 Spain was the only European na¬ 
tion which had obtained a foothold upon the part of 
North America now comprised within the 
Spain claimed the whole 
of North continent on the strength of the bulls of 
America. 4493 an( 4 1494, in which Pope Alexander 
YI. granted her all countries to be discovered to the 
west of a certain meridian which happens to pass a 
little to^lie east of Newfoundland. From their first 
centre in the West Indies the Spaniards had made a 
lodgment in Florida, at St. Augustine, in 1565; and 
from Mexico they had in 1605 founded Santa Fe, in 
what is now the territory of New Mexico. 

France and England, however, paid little heed to the 
„ claim of Spain. France had her own claim to 

Claims of A , 

France and North America, based on the voyages of dis¬ 
covery made by Yerrazano in 1524 and Car- 
tier in 1534, in the course of which New York harbour 
had been visited and the St. Lawrence partly explored. 
England had a still earlier claim, based on the dis¬ 
covery of the North American continent in 1497 by 
John Cabot. It presently became apparent that to 
make such claims of any value, discovery must be 
followed up by occupation of the country. Attempts 


THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS . 141 

at colonization had been made by French Protestants 
in Florida in 1562-65, and by the English in North 
Carolina in 1584-87, but both attempts had failed 
miserably. Throughout the sixteenth century French 
and English sailors kept visiting the Newfoundland 
fisheries, and by the end of the century the French and 
English governments had their attention definitely 
turned to the founding of colonies in North America. 

In 1606 two great joint-stock companies were 
formed in England for the purpose of planting such 
colonies. One of these companies had its head¬ 
quarters at London, and was called the Lon- The London 
don Company; the other had its headquar- oSth P com- 
ters at the seaport of Plymouth, in Devon- panies - 
shire, and was called the Plymouth Company. To 
the London Company the king granted the coast of 
North America from 84° to 38° north latitude; that 
is, about from Cape Fear to the mouth of the Rappa¬ 
hannock. To the Plymouth Company he granted 
the coast from 41° to 45° ; that is, about from the 
mouth of the Hudson to the eastern extremity of 
Maine. These grants were to go in straight strips or 
zones across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean to 
the Pacific. Almost nothing was then known about 
American geography; the distance from ocean to 
ocean across Mexico was not so very great, and peo¬ 
ple did not realize that further north it was quite a 
different thing. As to the middle strip, starting from 
the coast between the Rappahannock and the Hudson, 
it was open to the two companies, with the under¬ 
standing that neither was to plant a colony within 
100 miles of any settlement already begun by the 
other. This meant practically that it was likely to 
be controlled by whichever company should first come 
into the field with a flourishing colony. Accordingly 


142 


THE STATE. 


both companies made haste and sent out settlers in 
1607, the one to the James Kiver, the other to the 
Kennebec. The first enterprise, after much suffering, 
resulted in the founding of Virginia ; the second ended 
in disaster, and it was not until 1620 that the Pil¬ 
grims from Leyden made the beginnings of a per¬ 
manent settlement upon the territory of the Plymouth 
Company. 

These two companies were at first organized under 
a single charter. Each was to be governed by a 
council in England appointed by the king, and these 
councils were to appoint councils of thirteen to reside 

in the colonies, with powers practically un- 

Theircom- . A ^ 

monchar- limited. JN evertheless the km? covenanted 

ter. ° 

with his colonists as follows: “ Also we do, 
for us, our heirs and successors, declare by these 
presents that all and every the persons, being our 
subjects, which shall go and inhabit within the said 
colony and plantation, and every their children and 
posterity, which shall happen to be born within any 
of the limits thereof, shall have and enjoy all liber¬ 
ties, franchises, and immunities of free denizens and 
natural subjects within any of our other dominions, 
to all intents and purposes as if they had been abid¬ 
ing and born within this our realm of England, or in 
any other of our dominions.” This principle, that 
British subjects born in America should be entitled 
to the same political freedom as if born in England, 
was one upon which the colonists always insisted, and 
it was the repeated and persistent attempts of George 
III. to infringe it that led the American colonies to 
revolt and declare themselves independent of Great 
Britain. 

Both the companies founded in 1606 were short¬ 
lived. In 1620 the Plymouth Company got a new 


THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 143 


charter, which made it independent of the London 
Company. In 1624 the king, James I., quarrelled 
with the London Company, brought suit 
against it in court, and obtained from the of the two 
subservient judges a decree annulling its compauies ' 
charter. In 1635 the reorganized Plymouth Com¬ 
pany surrendered its charter to Charles I. in pursu¬ 
ance of a bargain which need not here concern us. 1 
But the creation of these short-lived companies left an 
abiding impression upon the map of North America 
and upon the organization of civil government in the 
United States. Let us observe wliat was 

, Settlement 

done with the three strips or zones into which of the three 
the country was divided: the northern or 
New England zone, assigned to the Plymouth Com¬ 
pany ; the southern or Virginia zone, assigned to the 
London Company; and the central zone, for which 
the two companies were, so to speak, to run a race. 

In the northern zone the colonies of Plymouth and 
Massachusetts Bay were founded by emigration from 
England between 1620 and 1630; and then in 1633- 
38 Connecticut, Providence, and Rhode Island were 
founded by emigration from Massachusetts. 

J o The 

Presently, in 1643, Providence and Rhode northern 
Island voluntarily united into one common¬ 
wealth ; and in 1662 New Haven, originally founded in 
1637 by emigration from England, was annexed to 
Connecticut by Charles II. Certain towns along the 
northeast coast, founded under royal grants to individ¬ 
ual proprietors, were for some time practically a part 
of Massachusetts, but in 1679 a part of this region 
was erected by Charles II. into the royal province of 
New Hampshire. The remainder, under the name of 
Maine, was in 1692 confirmed to Massachusetts, to 
1 See my Beginnings of New England , p. 112. 


144 


THE STATE. 


which Plymouth was at the same time annexed. Thus, 
before the Revolution, four of the original thirteen 
states — Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, 
and New Hampshire — had been constituted in the 
northern zone. 

In 1663 Charles II. cut off the southern part of 
Virginia, the area covering the present states of North 
and South Carolina and Georgia, and it was formed 
into a new province called Carolina. In 

2. The 1 

southern 1729 the two groups of settlements which 
had grown up along its coast were defini¬ 
tively separated into North and South Carolina ; and in 
1732 the frontier portion toward Florida was organ¬ 
ized into the colony of Georgia. Thus four of the 
original thirteen states — Virginia, the two Carolinas, 
and Georgia — were constituted in the southern zone. 

To this group some writers add Maryland, founded 
in 1632, because its territory had been claimed by the 
London Company; but the earliest settlements in 
Maryland, its principal towns, and almost the whole 
of its territory, come north of latitude 38° and within 
the middle zone. 

Between the years 1614 and 1621 the Dutch founded 
their colony of New Netherland upon the territory in¬ 
cluded between the Hudson and Delaware rivers, or, 

3 . The mid- as they quite naturally called them, the North 
die zone. anc l South rivers. They pushed their out¬ 
posts up the Hudson as far as the site of Albany, 
thus intruding far into the northern zone. In 1638 
Sweden planted a small colony upon the west side of 
Delaware Bay, but in 1655 it was surrendered to the 
Dutch. Then in 1664 the English took New Nether¬ 
land from the Dutch, and Charles II. granted the 
province to his brother, the Duke of York. The duke 
proceeded to grant part of it to his friends, Berkeley 


THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS . 145 


and Carteret, and thus marked off the new colony of 
New Jersey. In 1681 the region west of New Jersey 
was granted to William Penn, and in the following 
year Penn bought from the Duke of York the small 
piece of territory upon which the Swedes had planted 
their colony. Delaware thus became an appendage 
to Penn’s greater colony, but was never merged in it. 
Thus five of the original thirteen states — Maryland, 
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware 
were constituted in the middle zone. 

As we have already observed, the westward move¬ 
ment of population in the United States has largely 
followed the parallels of latitude, and thus the charac¬ 
teristics of these three original strips or zones have, 
with more or less modification, extended westward. 
The men of New England, with their Portland and 
Salem reproduced more than 3000 miles distant in the 
state of Oregon, and within 100 miles of the Pacific 
Ocean, may be said in a certain sense to have realized 
literally the substance of King James’s grant to the 
Plymouth Company. It will be noticed that the kinds 
of local government described in our earlier chapters 
are characteristic respectively of the three original 
zones: the township system being exemplified chiefly 
in the northern zone, the county system in the south¬ 
ern zone, and the mixed township-county system in 
the central zone. 

The London and Plymouth companies did not perish 
until after state governments had been organized in 
the colonies already founded upon their territories. 
In 1619 the colonists of Virginia, with the aid of the 
more liberal spirits in the London Company, 
secured for themselves a representative Burgesses in 

it* Virginia. 

government. To the governor and his coun¬ 
cil, appointed in England, there was added a general 


146 


THE STATE. 


assembly composed of two burgesses from each “ plan- 
tation,” 1 elected by the inhabitants. This assembly, 
the first legislative body that ever sat in America, met 
on the 30th of July, 1619, in the choir of the rude 
church at Jamestown. The dignity of the burgesses 
was preserved, as in the House of Commons, by sit¬ 
ting with their hats on; and after offering prayer, 
and taking the oath of allegiance and supremacy, they 
proceeded to enact a number of laws relating to pub¬ 
lic worship, to agriculture, and to intercourse with the 
Indians. Curiously enough, so confident was the be¬ 
lief of the settlers that they were founding towns, that 
they called their representatives “burgesses,” and down 
to 1776 the assembly continued to be known as the 
House of “ Burgesses,” although towns refused to grow 
in Virginia, and soon after counties were organized in 
1634 the burgesses sat for counties. Such were the 
beginnings of representative government in Virginia. 

The government of Massachusetts is descended from 
the Dorchester Company formed in England in 1623, 
for the ostensible purpose of trading in furs and timber 
and catching fish on the shores of Massachusetts Bay. 
After a disastrous beginning this company was dis¬ 
solved, but only to be immediately reorganized on a 
greater scale. In 1628 a grant of the land between the 
Charles and Merrimack rivers was obtained 
Massachu-° f from the Plymouth Company ; and in 1629 a 
setts Ba>. c i iar £ er was obtained from Charles I. So 
many men from the east of England had joined in the 

1 The word “ plantation ” is here used, not in its later and 
ordinary sense, as the estate belonging to an individual planter, 
but in an earlier sense. In this early usage it was equivalent to 
u settlement.” It was used in New England as well as in Vin. 
ginia; thus Salem was spoken of by the court of assistants in 
1029 as “ New England’s Plantation.” 


THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 147 


enterprise that it could no longer be fitly called a Dor¬ 
chester Company. The new name was significantly 
taken from the New World. The charter created a cor¬ 
poration under the style of the Governor and Company 
of Massachusetts Bay in New England. The freemen 
of the Company were to hold a meeting four times a 
year; and they were empowered to choose a governor, 
a deputy governor, and a council of eighteen assistants, 
who were to hold their meetings each month. They 
could administer oaths of supremacy and allegiance, 
raise troops for the defence of their possessions, admit 
new associates into the Company, and make regulations 
for the management of their business, with the vague 
and weak proviso that in order to be valid their enact¬ 
ment must in no wise contravene the laws of England. 
Nothing was said as to the place where the Company 
should hold its meetings, and accordingly after a few 
months the Company transferred itself and its charter 
to New England, in order that it might carry out its 
intentions with as little interference as possible on the 
part of the crown. 

Whether this transfer of the charter was legally 
justifiable or not is a question which has been much 
debated, but with which we need not here vex our¬ 
selves. The lawyers of the Company were shrewd 
enough to know that a loosely-drawn instrument may 
be made to admit of great liberty of action. Under 
the guise of a mere trading corporation the Puritan 
leaders deliberately intended to found a civil com¬ 
monwealth in accordance with their own theories of 
government. 

After their arrival in Massachusetts, their numbers 
increased so rapidly that it became impossible to have 
a primary assembly of all the freemen, and so a rep¬ 
resentative assembly was devised after the model of 


148 


THE STATE. 


the Old English county court. The representatives 
sat for townships, and were called deputies. At 
first they sat in the same chamber with the 
of Massa- assistants, but in 1644 the legislative body 

chusetts;the . i i i 

General was divided into two chambers, the depu¬ 
ties forming the lower house, while the upper 
was composed of the assistants, who were some¬ 
times called magistrates. In elections the candidates 
for the upper house were put in nomination by the 
General Court and voted on by the freemen. In gen¬ 
eral the assistants represented the common or central 
power of the colony, while the deputies represented 
the interests of popular self-government. The former 
was comparatively an aristocratic and the latter a 
democratic body, and there were frequent disputes 
between the two. 

It is worthy of note that the governing body thus 
constituted was at once a legislative and a judicial 
body, like the English county court which served as 
its model. Inferior courts were organized at an early 
date in Massachusetts, but the highest judicial tribu¬ 
nal was the legislature, which was known as the Gen¬ 
eral Court. It still bears this name to-day, though it 
long ago ceased to exercise judicial functions. 

Now as the freemen of Massachusetts directly chose 
their governor and deputy-governor, as well as their 
chamber of deputies, and also took part in choosing 
their council of assistants, their government was vir¬ 
tually that of an independent republic. The crown 
could interpose no effective check upon its proceed¬ 
ings except by threatening to annul its charter and 
send over a viceroy who might be backed up, if need 
be, by military force. Such threats were sometimes 
openly made, but oftener hinted ait. They served to 
inake the Massachusetts government somewhat wary 


THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 149 


and circumspect, but they did not prevent it from 
pursuing a very independent policy in many respects, 
as when, for example, it persisted in allowing none 
but members of the Congregational church to vote. 
This measure, by which it was intended to preserve the 
Puritan policy unchanged, was extremely distasteful 
to the British government. At length in 1684 the 
Massachusetts charter was annulled, an attempt was 
made to suppress town-meetings, and the colony was 
placed under a military viceroy, Sir Edmund Andros. 
After a brief period of despotic rule, the Revolution 
in England worked a change. In 1692 Mas- 

. ° . New charter 

sachusetts received a new charter, quite dii- of Massa- 
ferent from the old one. The people were 
allowed to elect representatives to the General Court, 
as before, but the governor and lieutenant-governor 
were appointed by the crown, and all acts of the legis¬ 
lature were to be sent to England for royal approval. 
The general government of Massachusetts was thus, 
except for its possession of a charter, made similar 
to that of Virginia. 

The governments of Connecticut and Rhode Island 
were constructed upon the same general plan as the 
first government of Massachusetts. Gov- „ 

° e Connecticut 

ernors, councils, and assemblies were elected an<i Rhode 

7 7 Island. 

by the people. These governments were 
made by the settlers themselves, after they had come 
out from Massachusetts ; and through a very singular 
combination of circumstances, 1 they were confirmed 
by charters granted by Charles II. in 1662, soon after 
his return from exile. So thoroughly republican were 
these governments that they remained without change 
until 1818 in Connecticut and until 1842 in Rhode 
Island. 

1 See my Beginnings of New England, pp- 192—196. 


150 


THE STATE. 


We thus observe two kinds of state government in 
the American colonies. In both kinds the people 
choose a representative legislative assembly; but in 
the one kind they also choose their governor, while in 
the other kind the governor is appointed by the crown. 
We have now to observe a third kind. 

After the downfall of the two great companies 
founded in 1606, the crown had a way of 

Counties . . . J 

palatine in handing over to its friends extensive tracts 
of land in America. In 1632 a charter 
granted by Charles I. to Cecilius Calvert, Lord Balti¬ 
more, founded the palatinate colony of Maryland. To 
understand the nature of this charter, we must observe 
that among the counties of England there were three 
whose rulers from an early time were allowed special 
privileges. Because Cheshire and Durham bordered 
upon the hostile countries, Wales and Scotland, and 
needed to be ever on the alert, their rulers, the earls 
of Chester and the bishops of Durham, were clothed 
with almost royal powers of command, and similar 
powers were afterwards granted through favouritism 
to the dukes of Lancaster. The three counties were 
called counties palatine (i. e. “ palace counties 
Before 1600 the earldom of Chester and the duchy of 
Lancaster had been absorbed by the crown, but the 
bishopric of Durham remained the type of an almost 
independent state, and the colony palatine of Mary- 
Charter of land was modelled after it. The charter of 
Maryland. Maryland conferred upon Lord Baltimore 
the most extensive privileges ever bestowed by the 
British crown upon any subject. He “ was made 
absolute lord of the land and water within his bound¬ 
aries, could erect towns, cities, and ports, make war 
or peace, call the whole fighting population to arms 
and declare martial law, levy tolls and duties, estab- 


THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 151 


Jish courts of justice, appoint judges, magistrates, 
and other civil officers, execute the laws, and pardon 
offenders. He could erect manors, with courts-baron 
and courts-leet, and confer titles and dignities, so that 
they differed from those of England. He could make 
laws with the assent of the freemen of the province, 
and, in cases of emergency, ordinances not impairing 
life, limb, or property, without their assent. He could 
found churches and chapels, have them consecrated 
according to the ecclesiastical laws of England, and 
appoint the incumbents.” 1 For his territory and 
these royal powers Lord Baltimore was to send over 
to the palace at Windsor a tribute of two Indian 
arrows yearly, and to reserve for the king one fifth 
part of such gold and silver as he might happen to 
get by mining. “ The king furthermore bound him¬ 
self and his successors to lay no taxes, customs, sub¬ 
sidies, or contributions whatever upon the people of 
the province, and in case of any such demand being 
made, the charter expressly declared that this clause 
might be pleaded as a discharge in full.” Maryland 
was thus almost an independent state. Baltimore’s 
title was Lord Proprietary of Maryland, and his title 
and powers were made hereditary in his family, so 
that he was virtually a feudal king. His rule, how¬ 
ever, was effectually limited. The government of 
Maryland was carried on by a governor and a two- 
chambered legislature. The governor and the mem¬ 
bers of the upper house of the legislature were ap¬ 
pointed by the lord proprietary, but the lower house 
of the legislature was elected, here as elsewhere, by 
the people; and in accordance with time-honoured 
English custom all taxation must originate in the 
lower house, which represented the people. 

1 Browne’s Maryland: the History of a Palatinate , p. 19. 


152 


THE STATE. 


Half a century after the founding of Maryland, 
similar though somewhat less extensive proprietary 

powers were granted by Charles II. to Wil- 

Charter of f. ® * .. . 

Pennsyi- liam Penn, and under them the colony of 

yania. 4/ 

Pennsylvania was founded and Delaware 
was purchased. Pennsylvania and Delaware had each 
its house of representatives elected by the people; 
but there was only one governor and council for the 
two colonies. The governor and council were ap¬ 
pointed by the lord proprietary, and as the council 
confined itself to advising the governor and did not 
take part in legislation, there was no upper house. 
The legislature was one-chambered. The office of 
lord proprietary was hereditary in the Penn family. 
For about eighty years the Penns and Calverts 
quarrelled, like true sovereigns, about the boundary¬ 
line between their principalities, until in 1763 the 
matter was finally settled. A line was agreed upon. 
Mason and an( f the survey was made by two distin- 
Dixon’s lme. gujghed mathematicians, Charles Mason and 
Jeremiah Dixon. The line ran westward 244 miles 
from the Delaware River, and every fifth milestone 
was engraved with the arms of Penn on the one side 
and those of Calvert on the other. In later times, 
after all the states north of Maryland had abolished 
slavery, Mason and Dixon’s line became famous as 
the boundary between slave states and free states. 

At first there were other proprietary colonies be¬ 
sides those just mentioned, but in course of time the 
other ,ro ^g^ts or powers of their lords proprietary 
prietarygov- were resumed by the crown. When New 

emments. ^ 

Netherland was conquered from the Dutch 
it was granted to the duke of York as lord proprie¬ 
tary ; but after one-and-twenty years the duke as¬ 
cended the throne as James II., and so the part of 


THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 153 


the colony which he had kept became the royal prov¬ 
ince of New York. The part which he had sold to 
Berkeley and Carteret remained for a while the pro¬ 
prietary colony of New Jersey, sometimes under one 
government, sometimes divided between two ; but the 
rule of the lords proprietary was very unpopular, and 
in 1702 their rights were surrendered to the crown. 
The Carolinas and Georgia were also at first proprie¬ 
tary colonies, but after a while they willingly came 
under the direct sway of the crown. In general the 
proprietary governments were unpopular because the 
lords proprietary, who usually lived in England and 
visited their colonies but seldom, were apt to regard 
their colonies simply as sources of personal income. 
This was not the case with William Penn, or the 
earlier Calverts, or with James Oglethorpe, the illus¬ 
trious founder of Georgia; but it was too often the 
case. So long as the lord’s rents, fees, and other 
emoluments were duly collected, he troubled himself 
very little as to what went on in the colony. If that 
had been all, the colony would have troubled itself 
very little about him. But the governor appointed 
by this absentee master was liable to be more devoted 
to his interests than to those of the people, and the 
civil service was seriously damaged by worthless 
favourites sent over from England for whom the gov¬ 
ernor was expected to find some office that* would pay 
them a salary. On the whole, it seemed less unsatis¬ 
factory to have the governors appointed by the crown; 
and so before the Revolutionary War all the pro¬ 
prietary governments had fallen, except those of the 
Penns and the Calverts, which doubtless survived be¬ 
cause they were the best organized and best admin¬ 
istered. 

There were thus at the time of the Revolutionary 


154 THE STATE. 

War three forms of state government in the Ameri¬ 
can colonies. There were, first , the Republi- 

At the time . . 

of the Revo- can colonies, m which the governors were 

lution there . _ ° _ T _ .. , 

were three elected bv the people, as m Rhode Island and 

forms of A r 1 . 

coioniai^gov- Connecticut; secondly , the Proprietary colo- 
RepuWjcan, nies, in which the governors were appointed 
tary, 3. by hereditary proprietors, as in Maryland, 
Pennsylvania, and Delaware; thirdly , the 
Royal colonies, 1 in which the governors were appointed 
by the crown, as in Georgia, the two Carolinas, Vir¬ 
ginia, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and New 
Hampshire. It is customary to distinguish the Repub¬ 
lican colonies as Charter colonies, but that is not an 
accurate distinction, inasmuch as the Proprietary colo¬ 
nies also had charters. And among the Royal colonies, 
Massachusetts, having been originally a republic, still 
had a charter in which her rights were so defined as to 
place her in a somewhat different position from the 
other Royal colonies ; so that Prof. Alexander John¬ 
ston, with some reason, puts her in a class by herself 
as a Semi-royal colony. 

These differences, it will be observed, related to the 
character and method of filling the governor’s office. 
In the Republican colonies the governor naturally 
represented the interests of the people, in the Pro- 
in an three prietary colonies he was the agent of the 
wa^a rep- 6 Penns or the Calverts, in the Royal colonies 
assembly ' 8 he was the agent of the king. All the thir- 
toum im- ne teen colonies alike had a legislative assem- 
pose taxes, ^jy e i ec t e d by the people. The basis of rep¬ 
resentation might be different in different colonies, as 

1 Or, as they were sometimes called, Royal provinces. In the 
history of Massachusetts many writers distinguish the period 
before 1692 as the colonial period, and the period 1692 to 1774 
as the provincial period. 


THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 155 


we have seen that in Massachusetts the delegates rep¬ 
resented townships, whereas in Virginia they repre¬ 
sented counties; but in all alike the assembly was a 
truly representative body, and in all alike it was the 
body that controlled the expenditure of public money- 
These representative assemblies arose spontaneously 
because the founders of the American colonies were 
Englishmen used from time immemorial to tax them¬ 
selves and govern themselves. As they had been 
wont to vote for representatives in England, instead 
of leaving things to be controlled by the king, so now 
they voted for representatives in Maryland or New 
York, instead of leaving things to be controlled by 
the governor. The spontaneousness of all this is 
quaintly and forcibly expressed by the great Tory his¬ 
torian Hutchinson, who tells us that in the year 1619 a 
house of burgesses broke out in Virginia! as if it had 
been the mumps, or original sin, or any of those things 
that people cannot help having. 

This representative assembly was the lower house 
in the colonial legislatures. The governor always had 
a council to advise with him and assist him in his execu¬ 
tive duties, in imitation of the king’s privy 

. ’ P ^ J The govern- 

council m England. But in nearly all the °r’ a council 

... . . . was a kind 

colonies this council took part m the work of upper 

A house. 

of legislation, and thus sat as an upper 
house, with more or less power of reviewing and 
amending the acts of the assembly. In Pennsylvania, 
as already observed, the council refrained from this 
legislative work, and so, until some years after the 
Revolution, the Pennsylvania legislature was one- 
chambered. The members of the council were ap¬ 
pointed in different ways, sometimes by the king or 
the lord proprietary, or, as in Massachusetts, by the 
outgoing legislature, or, as in Connecticut, they were 
elected by the people. 


156 


THE STATE . 


Thus all the colonies had a government framed 
after the model to which the people had been accus- 
The colonial tomed in England. It was like the English 
wa V s Tik“the system in miniature, the governor answering 
yjjjf to the king, and the legislature, usually two- 
iature - chambered, answering to parliament. And 
as quarrels between king and parliament were not un¬ 
common, so quarrels between governor and legislature 
were very frequent indeed, except in Connecticut and 
Rhode Island. The royal governors, representing 
British imperial ideas rather than American ideas, 
were sure to come into conflict with the popular assem¬ 
blies, and sometimes became the objects of bitter 
popular hatred. The disputes were apt to be con¬ 
cerned with questions in which taxation was involved, 
such as the salaries of crown officers, the appropri¬ 
ations for war with the Indians, and so on. Such 
disputes bred more or less popular discontent, but 
the struggle did not become flagrant so long as the 
British parliament refrained from meddling with it. 

The Americans never regarded parliament as pos¬ 
sessing any rightful authority over their internal af¬ 
fairs. When the earliest colonies were founded, it 
TheAmer- was the general theory that the American 
admittedthe wilderness was part of the king’s private 
of P paSa- y domain and not subject to the control of 
ment; parliament. This theory lived on in Amer¬ 
ica, but died out in England. On the one hand the 
Americans had their own legislatures, which stood to 
them in the place of parliament. The authority of 
parliament was derived from the fact that it was a 
representative body, but it did not represent Amer¬ 
icans. Accordingly the Americans held that the re¬ 
lation of each American colony to Great Britain was 
like the relation between England and Scotland in 


THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 


157 


the seventeenth century. England and Scotland then 
had the same king, but separate parliaments, and the 
English parliament could not make laws for Scotland. 
Such is the connection between Sweden and Norway 
at the present day; they have the same king, but 
each country legislates for itself. So the American 
colonists held that Virginia, for example, and Great 
Britain had the same king, but each its independent 
legislature; and so with the other colonies, — there 
were thirteen parliaments in America, each as sover¬ 
eign within its own sphere as the parliament at West¬ 
minster, and the latter had no more right to tax the 
people of Massachusetts than the Massachusetts legis¬ 
lature had to tax the people of Virginia. 

In one respect, however, the Americans did admit 
that parliament had a general right of supervision 
over all parts of the British empire. Mari- except in the 
time commerce seemed to be as much the ^ e £ 0 e n of 
affair of one part of the empire as another, commerce * 
and it seemed right that it should be regulated by the 
central parliament at Westminster. Accordingly the 
Americans did not resist custom-house taxes as long 
as they seemed to be imposed for purely commercial 
purposes; but they were quick to resist direct taxa- 
tion, and custom-house taxes likewise, as soon as these 
began to form a part of schemes for extending the 
authority of parliament over the colonies. 

In England, on the other hand, this theory that the 
Americans were subiect to the king’s au- 

J ° In England 

thoritv but not to that of parliament natu- there grew 

J i r> up the the- 

rallv became unintelligible after the king ory of the 

J . 0 . . imperial su- 

himself had become virtually subiect to par- premacy of 

ni parliament. 

liament. The Stuart kings might call them¬ 
selves kings by the grace of God, but since 1688 the sov¬ 
ereigns of Great Britain ovre their seat upon the throne 


158 


THE STATE. 


to an act of parliament. To suppose that the king’s 
American subjects were not amenable to the authority 
of parliament seemed like supposing that a stream 
could rise higher than its source. Besides, after 1700 
the British empire began to expand in all parts of the 
world, and the business of parliament became more 
and more imperial. It could make laws for the East 
India Company; why not, then, for the Company of 
Massachusetts Bay ? 

Thus the American theory of the situation was 
irreconcilable with the British theory, and when par¬ 
liament in 1765, with no unfriendly purpose, began 
laying taxes upon the Americans, thus invading the 
province of the colonial legislatures, the Americans 
refused to submit. The ensuing quarrel might doubt- 
Confiict be* less have been peacefully adjusted, had not 
British!^ king, George III., happened to be enter- 
ic h an A the e o r - taining political schemes which were threat¬ 
ens^* ene d with ruin if the Americans should get 
George hi. a f a i r R ear i n g f or their side of the case. 1 
Thus political intrigue came in to make the situation 
hopeless. When a state of things arises, with which 
men’s established methods of civil government are in¬ 
competent to deal, men fall back upon the primitive 
method which was in vogue before civil government 
began to exist. They fight it out; and so we had our 
Revolutionary War, and became separated politically 
from Great Britain. It is worthy of note, in this 
connection, that the last act of parliament, which 
brought matters to a crisis, was the so-called Regulat¬ 
ing Act of April, 1774, the purpose of which was to 
change the government of Massachusetts. This act 
provided that members of the council should be ap- 

1 See my War of Independence , pp. 58-64, 69-71 (Riverside 
Library for Young People). 


THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 159 


pointed by the royal governor, that they should be paid 
by the crown and thus be kept subservient to it, 
that the principal executive and judicial officers should 
be likewise paid by the crown, and that town-meetings 
should be prohibited except for the sole purpose of 
electing town officers. Other unwarrantable acts were 
passed at the same time, but this was the worst. 
Troops were sent over to aid in enforcing this act, the 
people of Massachusetts refused to recognize its valid¬ 
ity, and out of this political situation came the battles 
of Lexington and Bunker Hill. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

1. Various claims to North America : — 

a. Spanish. 

b. English. 

c. French. 

2 . What was needed to make such claims of any value ? 

3 . The London and Plymouth companies : — 

a. The time and purpose of their organization. 

b. The grant to the London Company. 

c. The grant to the Plymouth Company. 

d. The magnitude of the zones granted. 

e. The peculiar provisions for the intermediate zone. 

f. First attempts at settlement. 

4 . To what important principle of the common charter of these 

two companies did the colonists persistently cling ? 

5 . The influence of these short-lived companies upon the settle¬ 

ment and government of the United States : — 

a. A review of the zones and their assignment. 

b. The states of the northern zone and their origin. 

c. The states of the southern zone and their origin. 

d. The states of the middle zone and their origin. 

e. The influence of the movement of population on local 

government in each zone. 

6 - Early state government in Virginia : — 

a. The part appointed and the part elected. 

b. The first legislative body in America. 

C. The dignity of its members. 


160 


THE STATE. 


d. The reason for the name “ House of Burgesses.” 

7 . Early state government in Massachusetts : — 

a. The Dorchester Company. 

b. The government provided for the Company of Massachu¬ 

setts Bay by its charter. 

c. The real purpose of the Puritan leaders 

d. The change from the primary assembly of freemen to the 

representative assembly. 

e. The division of this assembly into two houses, with a com¬ 

parison of the houses. 

f The reason for the name “ General Court.” 

g. The loss of the charter and the causes that led to it. 

h. The new charter as compared with the old. 

8 . Compare the early governments of Connecticut and Rhode 

Island with the first government of Massachusetts. 

9 . What two kinds of state government have thus far been 

observed ? 

10 . Early state government in Maryland : — 

a. The favouritism of the crown as shown in land grants. 

b. The palatine counties of England. 

c. The bishopric of Durham the model of the colony of 

Maryland. 

d. The extraordinary privileges granted Lord Baltimore. 

e. The tribute to be paid in return. 

f. The ruler a feudal king. 

g. Limitations of the ruler’s power. 

11 . Early state government in Pennsylvania and Delaware : — 

a. The powers of Penn as compared with those of Calvert. 

b. One governor and council. 

c. The legislature of each colony. 

d. The quarrels of the Penns and Calverts. 

e. Mason and Dixon’s line. 

12 . What other proprietary governments were organized, and 

what was their fate ? 

13 . Why were proprietary governments unpopular ? (Note the 

exceptions, however.) 

14 . Classify and define the forms of colonial government in ex- 

istence at the beginning of the Revolution. 

15 . Show that these forms differed chiefly in respect to the gov¬ 

ernor’s office. 

16 . A representative assembly in each of the thirteen colo¬ 

nies : — 


THE TRANSITION. 


161 


a. The basis of representation. 

b. The control of the public money. 

c. The spontaneousness of the representative assembly. 

17 . The governor’s council : — 

a. The custom in England. 

b. The council as an upper house. 

c. The council in Pennsylvania. 

18 . Compare the colonial systems with the British ( 1 ) in organ¬ 

ization and ( 2 ) in the nature of their political quarrels. 

19 . What was the American theory of the relation of each col¬ 

ony to the British parliament ? 

20 . What was the American attitude towards maritime regula¬ 

tions ? 

21 . What was the British theory of the relation of the Ameri¬ 

can colonies to parliament ? 

22 . How was the Revolutionary War brought on ? 

23 . Describe the last act of parliament that brought matters to a 

crisis. 

§ 2. The Transition from Colonial to State Gov¬ 
ernments . 

Daring the earlier part of the Revolutionary War 
most of the states had some kind of provisional gov¬ 
ernment'. The case of Massachusetts may serve as an 
illustration. There, as in the other colonies, the gov¬ 
ernor had the power of dissolving the assem- Dj 880 i u ti 0n 
bly. This was like the king’s power of dis- biieTand" 
solving parliament in the days of the Stuarts. P arliament8 - 
It was then a dangerous power. In modern England 
there is nothing dangerous in a dissolution of parlia¬ 
ment ; on the contrary, it is a useful device for ascer¬ 
taining the wishes of the people, for a new House of 
Commons must be elected immediately. But in old 
times the king would turn his parliament out of doors, 
and as long as he could beg, borrow, or steal enough 
money to carry on government according to his own 
notions, he would not order a new election. Fortu¬ 
nately such periods were not very long. The latest 


162 


THE STATE. 


instance was in the reign of Charles I., who got on 
without a parliament from 1629 to 1640. 1 In the 
American colonies the dissolution of the assembly by 
the governor was not especially dangerous, but it 
sometimes made mischief by delaying needed legisla¬ 
tion. During the few years preceding the Revolu¬ 
tion, the assemblies were so often dissolved that it 
became necessary for the people to devise some new 
way of getting their representatives together to act 
for the colony. In Massachusetts this end was at¬ 
tained by the famous “ Committees of Correspondence.” 

No one could deny that town-meetings were 
of°c“rr t e- es legal, or that the people of one township 
epondence. ^ad a r ight to ask advice from the people of 
another township. Accordingly each township ap¬ 
pointed a committee to correspond or confer with 
committees from other townships. This system was 
put into operation by Samuel Adams in 1772, and for 
the next two years the popular resistance to the crown 
was organized by these committees. For example, 
before the tea was thrown into Boston harbour, the 
Boston committee sought and received advice from 
every township in Massachusetts, and the treatment 
of the tea-ships was from first to last directed by the 
committees of Boston and five neighbour towns. 

In 1774 a further step was taken. As parliament 
had overthrown the old government, and sent over 
General Gage as military governor, to put its new sys¬ 
tem into operation, the people defied and ignored 
Gage, and the townships elected delegates to meet 

1 The kings of France contrived to get along without a rep¬ 
resentative assembly from 1614 to 1789, and during this long 
period abuses so multiplied that the meeting of the States-Gen- 
eral in 1789 precipitated the great revolution which overthrew 
the monarchy. 


THE TRANSITION. 163 

together in what was called a 44 Provincial Congress.” 
The president of this congress was the chief Provincial 
executive officer of the commonwealth, and Congress - 
there was a small executive council, known as the 
44 Committee of Safety.” 

This provisional government lasted about a year. In 
the summer of 1775 the people went further. They 
fell back upon their charter and proceeded to carry on 
their government as it had been carried on before 
1774, except that the governor was left out altogether. 
The people in town-meeting elected their representa¬ 
tives to a general assembly, as of old, and this assembly 
chose a council of twenty-eight members to sit as an 
upper house. The president of the council was the fore¬ 
most executive officer of the commonwealth, but he had 
not the powers of a governor. He was no more the 
governor than the president of our federal senate is 
the president of the United States. The powers of the 
governor were really vested in the council, which was 
an executive as well as a legislative body, and the 
president was its chairman. Indeed, the title Provisional 
“ president ” is simply the Latin for 44 chair- gwem; 
man,” he- who 44 presides” or “sits before” “govern, 
an assembly. In 1775 it was a more mod- “prosi¬ 
est title than 44 governor,” and had not the 
smack of semi-royalty which lingered about the lat¬ 
ter. Governors had made so much trouble that people 
were distrustful of the office, and at first it was 
thought that the council w T ould be quite sufficient for 
the executive work that was to be done. Several of 
the states thus organized their governments with a 
council at the head instead of a governor; and hence 
in reading about that period one often comes across 
the title 44 president,” somewhat loosely used as if 
equivalent to governor. Thus in 1787 we find Benja- 


164 


THE STATE . 


min Franklin called “president of Pennsylvania,” 
meaning “president of the council of Pennsylvania.” 
But this arrangement did not prove satisfactory and 
did not last long. It soon appeared that for executive 
work one man is better than a group of men. In 
Massachusetts, in 1780, the old charter was replaced 
by a new written constitution, under which was formed 
the state government which, with some emendations in 
detail, has continued to the present day. Before the 
end of the eighteenth century all the states except 
Connecticut and Rhode Island, which had always 
been practically independent, thus remodelled their 
governments. 

These changes, however, were very conservative. 
The old form of government was closely followed. 
First there was the governor, elected in some states 
by the legislature, in others by the people. Then 
there was the two-chambered legislature, of which the 
lower house was the same institution after the Revolu- 
originof tion it had been before. The upper 
the Senates, or council, was retained, but in a 

somewhat altered form. The Americans had been 
used to having the acts of their popular assemblies 
reviewed by a council, and so they retained this revi¬ 
sory body as an upper house. But the fashion of 
copying names and titles from the ancient Roman re¬ 
public was then prevalent, and accordingly the upper 
house was called a Senate. There was a higher prop¬ 
erty qualification for senators than for representatives, 
and generally their terms of service were longer. In 
some states they were chosen by the people, in others by 
the lower house. In Maryland they were chosen by 
a special college of electors, an arrangement which 
was copied in our federal government in the election 
of the president of the United States. In most of the 


THE TRANSITION. 


165 


states there was a lieutenant-governor, as there had 
been in the colonial period, to serve in case of the 
governor’s death or incapacity; ordinarily the lieuten¬ 
ant-governor presided over the senate. 

Thus our state governments came to be repetitions 
on a small scale of the king, lords, and commons of 
England. The governor answered to the king, with 
his dignity very much curtailed by election for a short 
period. The senate answered to the House of Lords 
except in being a representative and not a hereditary 
body. It was supposed to represent more especially 
that part of the community which was possessed of 
most wealth and consideration ; and in several states 
the senators were apportioned with some reference to 
the amount of taxes paid by different parts of the 
state. 1 When New York made its senate a supreme 
court of appeal, it was in deliberate imitation of the 
House of Lords. On the other hand, the House of 
Representatives answered to the House of Commons 
as it used to be in the days when its power was really 
limited by that of the upper house and the 

J A A Likenesses 

king:. At the present day the English and ditfer- 

® r J ° T encesbe- 

House ot Commons is a supreme body. In tween Brit- 

1 *L ish and 

case of a serious difference with the House American 

systems. 

of Lords, the upper house must yield, or 
else new peers will be created in sufficient number to 
reverse its vote; and the lords always yield before this 
point is reached. So, too, though the veto power of 
the sovereign has never been explicitly abolished, it 
has not been exercised since 1707, and would not now 
be tolerated for a moment. In America there is no 
such supreme body. The bill passed by the lower 
house may be thrown out by the upper house, or if it 
passes both it may be vetoed by the governor; and 
J See my Critical Period of American History , p. 68. 


166 


THE STATE. 


unless the bill can again pass both houses by more 
than a simple majority, the veto will stand. In most 
of the states a two-thirds vote in the affirmative is 
required. 


QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

1. The dissolution of assemblies and parliaments : — 

a. The governor’s power over the assembly in the colonies. 

b. The king’s power over parliament in England. 

c. The danger of dissolution in the time of the Stuarts. 

d. The safety of dissolution in modern England. 

e. The frequency of dissolution before the Revolution. 

2 . Representation of the people in the provisional government 

of Massachusetts : — 

a. The committees of correspondence. 

b. Their function, with an illustration from the “ tea-ships.” 

c. The provincial congress. 

d. The committee of safety. 

e. The return to the two-cliambered legislature of the char¬ 

ter. 

3 . Executive powers in the provisional government of Massachu¬ 

setts ; — 

a. The foremost executive officer. 

b. Where the power of governor was really vested. 

c. Why the name of president was preferred to that of gov¬ 

ernor. 

d. The example of Massachusetts followed elsewhere. 

e. The end of provisional government in 1780. 

4 . The council transformed to a senate : — 

a. The principle of reviewing the acts of the popular as¬ 

sembly. 

b. The borrowing of Roman names. 

c. The qualifications and service of senators. 
do The lieutenant-governor. 

5 . Our state governments patterned after the government of 

England : — 

a. The governor and the king. 

b. The Senate and the House of Lords. 

c. The House of Representatives and the House of Commons. 

d. Some differences between the British system and the 
American. 


THE STATE GOVERNMENTS, 


167 


§ 3. The State Governments . 

During the present century our state governments 
have undergone more or less revision, chiefly in the 
way of abolishing property qualifications for office, 
making the suffrage universal, and electing officers 
that were formerly appointed. Only in Delaware 
does there still remain a property qualification for 
senators. There is no longer any distinction in 
principle between the upper and lower Laterm 0 di- 
houses of the legislature. Both represent fications - 
population, the usual difference being that the senate 
consists of fewer members who represent larger dis¬ 
tricts. Usually, too, the term of the representatives 
is two years, and the whole house is elected at the 
same time, while the term of senators is four years, 
and half the number are elected every two years. 
This system of two-chambered legislatures is prob¬ 
ably retained chiefly through a spirit of conserva¬ 
tism, because it is what we are used to. But it no 
doubt has real advantages in checking hasty legis¬ 
lation. People are always wanting to have laws made 
about all sorts of things, and in nine cases out of ten 
their laws would be pernicious laws ; so that it is well 
not to have legislation made too easy. 

The suffrage by which the legislature is elected is 
almost universal. It is given in all the states to all 
male citizens who have reached the age of one-and- 
twenty. In many it is given also to denizens of for¬ 
eign birth who have declared an intention of becom¬ 
ing citizens. In some it is given without further 
specification to every male inhabitant of voting age. 
Residence in the state for some period, vary- The suf . 
ing from three months to two years and a frage ' 
half, is also generally required; sometimes a certain 


168 


THE STATE. 


length of residence in the county, the town, or even 
in the voting precinct, is prescribed. In many of the 
states it is necessary to have paid one’s poll-tax. 
There is no longer any property qualification, though 
there was until recently in Rhode Island. Criminals, 
idiots, and lunatics are excluded from the suffrage. 
Some states also exclude duellists and men who bet 
on elections. Connecticut and Massachusetts shut 
out persons who are unable to read. In no other 
country has access to citizenship and the suffrage been 
made so easy. 

A peculiar feature of American governments, and 
something which it is hard for Europeans 
between leg- to understand, is the almost complete sepa- 
theexecu- ration between the executive and the legis¬ 
lative departments. In European countries 
the great executive officers are either members of the 
legislature, or at all events have the right to be present 
at its meetings and take part in its discussions; and 
as they generally have some definite policy by which 
they are to stand or fall, they are wont to initiate legis¬ 
lation and to guide the course of the discussion. But 
in America the legislatures, having no such central 
points about which to rally their forces, carry on their 
work in an aimless, rambling sort of way, through the 
agency of many standing committees. When a mea¬ 
sure is proposed it is referred to one of the committees 
for examination before the house will have anything 
to do with it. Such a preliminary examination is of 
course necessary where there is a vast amount of legis¬ 
lative work going on. But the private and discon¬ 
nected way in which our committee work is done 
tends to prevent full and instructive discussion in the 
house, to make the mass of legislation, always chaotic 
enough, somewhat more chaotic, and to facilitate the 
various evil devices of lobbying and log-rolling. 


THE STATE GOVERNMENTS. 


169 


In pointing out this inconvenience attendant upon 
the American plan of separating the executive and 
legislative departments, I must not be understood as 
advocating the European plan as preferable for this 
country. The evils that inevitably flow from any 
fundamental change in the institutions of a country 
are apt to be much more serious than the evils which 
the change is intended to remove. Political govern¬ 
ment is like a plant; a little watering and pruning do 
very well for it, but the less its roots are fooled with, 
the better. In the American system of government 
the independence of the executive department, with 
reference to the legislative, is fundamental; and on 
the whole it is eminently desirable. One of the most 
serious of the dangers which beset democratic govern¬ 
ment, especially where it is conducted on a great scale, 
is the danger that the majority for the time being will 
use its power tyrannically and unscrupulously, as it is 
always tempted to do. Against such unbridled democ¬ 
racy we have striven to guard ourselves by various 
constitutional checks and balances. Our written con¬ 
stitutions and our Supreme Court are important safe¬ 
guards, as will be shown below. The independence 
of our executives is another important safeguard. 
But if our executive departments were mere com¬ 
mittees of the legislature — like the English cabinet, 
for example — this independence could not possibly 
be maintained; and the loss of it would doubtless 
entail upon us evils far greater than those which 
now flow from want of leadership in our legislatures . 1 

1 In two admirable essays on “Cabinet Responsibility and the 
Constitution,” and “Democracy and the Constitution,” Mr. 
Lawrence Lowell has convincingly argued that the American 
system is best adapted to the circumstances of this country. 
Lowell, Essays on Government, pp. 20-117, Boston, 1890. 


170 


THE STATE . 


We must remember that government is necessarily a 
cumbrous affair, however conducted. 

The only occasion on which the governor is a part 
of the legislature is when he signs or vetoes a bill. 
The state Then he is virtually in himself a third house, 
executive. an executive officer the governor is far 

less powerful than in the colonial times. We shall 
see the reason of this after we have enumerated some 
of the principal offices in the executive department. 
There is always a secretary of state, whose main duty 
is to make and keep the records of state transactions. 
There is always a state treasurer, and usually a state 
auditor or comptroller to examine the public accounts 
and issue the warrants without which the treasurer 
cannot pay out a penny of the state’s money. There 
is almost always an attorney-general, to ajrpear for 
the state in the supreme court in all cases in which 
the state is a party, and in all prosecutions for capital 
offences. He also exercises some superintendence 
over the district attorneys, and acts as legal adviser 
to the governors and the legislature. There is also in 
many states a superintendent of education; and in 
some there are boards of education, of health, of 
lunacy and charity, bureaux of agriculture, commis¬ 
sioners of prisons, of railroads, of mines, of harbours, 
of immigration, and so on. Sometimes such boards 
are appointed by the governor, but such officers as 
the secretary of state, the treasurer, auditor, and at¬ 
torney-general are, in almost all the states, elected by 
the people. They are not responsible to the governor, 
but to the people who elect them. They are not sub¬ 
ordinate to the governor, but are rather his colleagues. 
Strictly speaking, the governor is not the head of the 
executive department, but a member of it. The exec¬ 
utive department is parcelled out in several pieces, 
and his is one of the pieces. 


THE STATE GOVERNMENTS. 


171 


The ordinary functions of the governor are four in 
number. 1. He sends a message to the legislature, 
at the beginning of each session, recommend- Thegov . 
ing such measures as he would like to see tionT’V' a<£ 
embodied in legislation. 2. He is com- Jj a ^ e fle |- 
mander-in-chief of the state militia, and as Commander 
such can assist the sheriff of a county in “^in¬ 
putting down a riot, or the President of the United 
States, in the event of a war. On such occasions the 
governor may become a personage of immense impor¬ 
tance, as, for example, in our Civil War, when Pres¬ 
ident Lincoln’s demands for troops met with such 
prompt response from the men who will be known to 
history as the great “ war governors.” 3. The gov¬ 
ernor is invested with the royal prerogative 

£ , • • i J 1 ,. 6 3. Royalpre- 

ot pardoning criminals, or commuting the rogativeof 
sentences pronounced upon them by the 
courts. This power belongs to kings in accordance 
with the old feudal notion that the king was the 
source or fountain of justice. When properly used 
it affords an opportunity for rectifying some injustice 
for which the ordinary machinery of the law could 
not provide, or for making such allowances for extraor¬ 
dinary circumstances as the court could not properly 
consider. In our country it is too often improperly 
used to enable the worst criminals to escape due 
punishment, just because it is a disagreeable duty to 
hang them. Such misplaced clemency is pleasant for 
the murderers, but it makes life less secure for honest 
men and women, and in the less civilized regions of 
our country it encourages lynch law. 4. In all the 
states except Rhode Island, Delaware, Ohio, and 
North Carolina, the governor has a veto upon the acts 
of the legislature, as above explained; and in ordinary 
times this power, which is not executive but legisla- 


172 


THE STATE. 


tive, is probably the governor’s most important and 
considerable power. In thirteen of the states the gov¬ 
ernor can veto particular items in a bill for the appro- 
4. Veto pow- priation of public money, while at the same 
er ‘ time he approves the rest of the bill. This 

is a most important safeguard against corruption, be¬ 
cause where the governor does not have this power 
it is possible to make appropriations for unworthy 
or scandalous purposes along with appropriations for 
matters of absolute necessity, and then to lump them 
all together in the same bill, so that the governor 
must either accept the bad along with the good or re¬ 
ject the good along with the bad. It is a great gain 
when the governor can select the items and veto some 
while approving others. In such matters the gov¬ 
ernor is often more honest and discreet than the legis¬ 
lature, if for no other reason, because he is one man, 
and responsibility can be fixed upon him more clearly 
than upon two or three hundred. 

Such, in brief outline, is the framework of the 
American state governments. But our account would 
be very incomplete without some mention of three 
points, all of them especially characteristic of the 
American state, and likely to be overlooked or misun¬ 
derstood by Europeans. 

First , while we have rapidly built up one of the 
greatest empires yet seen upon the earth, we have left 
in building our se ^"g overnmen t substantially unimpaired 
the state, in the process. This is exemplified in two 

the local A . . A 

seif-govem- ways: first, m the relationship of the state 

ment was . . A . 

left unim- to its towns and counties, and, secondly, in 

paired. . , , 77 J 7 

its relationship to the federal government. 
Over the township and county governments the state 
exercises a general supervision; indeed, it clothes 
them with their authority. Townships and counties 


THE STATE GOVERNMENTS. 


173 


have no sovereignty; the state, on the other hand, 
has many elements of sovereignty, but it does not use 
them to obliterate or unduly restrict the control of the 
townships and counties over their own administrative 
work. It leaves the local governments to administer 
themselves. As a rule there is only just enough state 
supervision to harmonize the working of so many local 
administrations. Such a system of government comes 
as near as possible toward making all American citi¬ 
zens participate actively in the management of public 
affairs. It generates and nourishes a public spirit 
and a universal acquaintance with matters of public 
interest such as has probably never before been seen 
in any great country. Public spirit of equal or greater 
intensity may have been witnessed in small and highly 
educated communities, such as ancient Athens or me¬ 
diaeval Florence, but in the United States it is diffused 
over an area equal to the whole of Europe. Among 
the leading countries of the world England is the one 
which comes nearest to the United States in the gen¬ 
eral diffusion of enlightened public spirit and political 
capacity throughout all classes of society. 

A very notable contrast to the self-government which 
has produced such admirable results is to be seen in 
France, and as contrasts are often instructive, let me 
mention one or two features of the French government. 
There is nothing like the irregularity and spontaneity 
there that we have observed in our survey of the 
United States. Everything is symmetrical. France 
is divided into eighty-nine departments , most instructive 
of them larger than the state of Delaware, Sh ast 
some of them nearly as large as Connecticut, France - 
and the administration of one department is exactly 
like that of all the others. The chief officer of the de¬ 
partment is the prefect, who is appointed by the minister 


174 


THE STATE. 


of the interior at Paris. The prefect is treasurer, re¬ 
cruiting officer, school superintendent, all in one, and 
he appoints nearly all inferior officers. The department 
has a council, elected by universal suffrage, but it has 
no power of .assessing taxes. The central legislature in 
Paris decides for it how much money it shall use and 
how it shall raise it. The department council is not 
even allowed to express its views on political matters; 
it can only attend to purely local details of adminis¬ 
tration. 

The smallest civil division in France is the com* 
mune , which may be either rural or urban. The 
commune has a municipal council which elects a 
mayor; but when once elected the mayor becomes di¬ 
rectly responsible to the prefect of the department, 
and through him to the minister of the interior. If 
these greater officers do not like what the mayor does, 
they can overrule his acts or even suspend him from 
office; or upon their complaint the President of the 
Republic can remove him. 

Thus in France people do not manage their own 
affairs, but they are managed for them by a hierarchy 
of officials with its head at Paris. This sys* 
tern was devised by the Constituent Assembly 
in 1790 and wrought into completeness by 
Napoleon in 1800. The men who devised it 
in 1790 actually supposed that they were in¬ 
augurating a system of political freedom (!), 
and unquestionably it was a vast improve¬ 
ment upon the wretched system which it 
supplanted; but as contrasted with Amer¬ 
ican methods and institutions, it is difficult 
to call it anything else than a highly centralized des- 
potism. It has gone on without essential change 
through all the revolutions which have overtaken 


In France, 
whether it is 
nominally a 
despotic em¬ 
pire or a re¬ 
public at the 
top, there is 
scarcely any 
sell-govern¬ 
ment at the 
bottom. 
Hence gov¬ 
ernment 
there rests 
on an inse¬ 
cure foun¬ 
dation. 


THE STATE GOVERNMENTS. 175 

France since 1800. The people have from time to 
time overthrown an unpopular government at Paris, 
but they have never assumed the direct control of 
their own affairs. 

Hence it is commonly remarked that while the 
general intelligence of the French people is very 
high, their intelligence in political matters is, com¬ 
paratively speaking, very low. Some persons try to 
explain this by a reference to peculiarities of race. 
But if we Americans were to set about giving to the 
state governments things to do that had better be 
done by counties and towns, and giving the federal 
government things to do that had better be done by 
the states, it would not take many generations to 
dull the keen edge of our political capacity. We 
should lose it as inevitably as the most consum¬ 
mate of pianists will lose his facility if he stops prac¬ 
tising. It is therefore a fact of cardinal importance 
that in the United States the local governments of 
township, county, and city are left to administer them¬ 
selves instead of being administered by a great bureau 
with its head at the state capital. In a political society 
thus constituted from the beginning it has proved pos¬ 
sible to build up our Federal Union, in which the 
states, while for certain purposes indissolubly united, 
at the same time for many other purposes retain their 
self-government intact. As in the case of other aggre¬ 
gates, the nature of the American political aggregate * 
has been determined by the nature of its political 
units. 

Secondly , let us observe how great are the func¬ 
tions retained by our states under the conditions of 
our Federal Union. The powers granted to our fed¬ 
eral government, such as the control over interna¬ 
tional questions, war and peace, the military forces, 


176 THE STATE. 

the coinage, patents and copyrights, and the regula¬ 
tion of commerce between the states and with 
the tunc- foreign countries, — all these are powers re¬ 
tained by lating to matters that affect all the states, 

the Amer- but could not be regulated harmoniously by 
the separate action of the states. In order 
the more completely to debar the states from meddling 
with such matters, they are expressly prohibited from 
entering into agreements with each other or with a 
foreign power; they cannot engage in war, save in 
case of actual invasion or such imminent danger as 
admits of no delay ; without consent of Congress they 
cannot keep a military or naval force in time of peace, 
or impose custom-house duties. Besides all this they 
are prohibited from granting titles of nobility, coining 
money, emitting bills of credit, making anything but 
gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts, 
passing bills of attainder, ex post facto laws, or laws 
impairing the obligation of contracts. The force of 
these latter restrictions will be explained hereafter. 
Such are the limitations of sovereignty imposed upon 
the states within the Federal Union. 

“ Compared with the vast prerogatives of the state 
legislatures, these limitations seem small enough. All 
the civil and religious rights of our citizens depend 
upon state legislation; the education of the people is 
in the care of the states ; with them rests the regula- 
• tion of the suffrage ; they prescribe the rules of mar¬ 
riage, the legal relations of husband and wife, of par¬ 
ent and child; they determine the powers of masters 
over servants and the whole law of principal and agent, 
which is so vital a matter in all business transactions; 
they regulate partnership, debt and credit, insurance ; 
they constitute all corporations, both private and mu¬ 
nicipal, except such as specially fulfill the financial or 


THE STATE GOVERNMENTS. 


177 


other specific functions of the federal government; 
they control the possession, distribution, and use of 
property, the exercise of trades, and all contract rela¬ 
tions ; and they formulate and administer all criminal 
law, except only that which concerns crimes com¬ 
mitted against the United States, on the high seas, 
or against the law of nations. Space would fail in 
which to enumerate the particulars of this vast range 
of power; to detail its parts would be to catalogue all 
social and business relationships, to examine all the 
foundations of law and order.” 1 

This enumeration, by Mr. Woodrow Wilson, is so 
much to the point that I content myself with transcrib¬ 
ing it. A very remarkable illustration of i llusfcra tion 
the preponderant part played by state law EnSishlSa- 
in America is given by Mr. Wilson, in pur- tory * 
suance of the suggestion of Mr. Franklin Jameson. 2 
Consider the most important subjects of legislation in 
England during the present century, the subjects 
which make up almost the entire constitutional history 
of England for eighty years. These subjects are 
“ Catholic emancipation, parliamentary reform, the 
abolition of slavery, the amendment of the poor-laws, 
the reform of municipal corporations, the repeal of 
the corn laws, the admission of Jews to parliament, 
the disestablishment of the Irish church, the altera¬ 
tion of the Irish land laws, the establishment of na» 
tional education, the introduction of the ballot, and 
the reform of the criminal law.” In the United States 
only two of these twelve great subjects could be dealt 
with by the federal government: the repeal of the 

1 Woodrow Wilson, The State: Elements of Historical and 
Practical Politics , p. 437. 

2 Jameson, “The Study of the Constitutional and Political 
History of the States.” J. H U\ Studies , IV., v. 


178 


THE STATE . 


com laws, as being a question of national revenue and 
custom-house duties, and the abolition of slavery, by 
virtue of a constitutional amendment embodying some 
of the results of our Civil War. All the other ques¬ 
tions enumerated would have to be dealt with by our 
state governments; and before the war that was the 
case with the slavery question also. A more vivid 
illustration could not be asked for. 

How complete is the circle of points in which the 
state touches the life of the American citizen, we may 
see in the fact that our state courts make a 
ence P of n the complete -judiciary system, from top to bot- 
tom independent of the federal courts. An 
appeal may be carried from a state court to a federal 
court in cases which are found to involve points of 
federal law, or in suits arising between citizens of dif¬ 
ferent states, or where foreign ambassadors are con¬ 
cerned. Except for such cases the state courts make 
up a complete judiciary world of their own, quite out¬ 
side the sphere of the United States courts. 

We have already had something to say about courts 
in connection with those primitive areas for the ad¬ 
ministration of justice, the hundred and the county. 
In our states there are generally four grades of courts. 
There are, first, the justices of the peace , with juris¬ 
diction over “ petty police offences and civil suits for 
trifling sums.” They also conduct preliminary hearings 
in cases where persons are accused of serious crimes, and 
when the evidence seems to warrant it they may com¬ 
mit the accused person for trial before a higher court. 
The mayor’s court in a city usually has jurisdiction sim¬ 
ilar to that of justices of the peace. Secondly, there 
are county and municipal courts , which hear appeals 
from justices of the peace and from mayor’s courts, 
and have original jurisdiction over a more important 


THE STATE GOVERNMENTS. 


179 


grade of civil and criminal cases. Thirdly, there are 
superior courts , having original jurisdiction 

. a Constitution 

over the most important cases and over wider of the state 
areas of country, so that they do not con¬ 
fine their sessions to one place, hut move about from 
place to place, like the English justices in eyre . 
Cases are carried up, on appeal, from the lower to the 
superior court. Fourthly, there is in every state a 
supreme court , which generally has no original juris¬ 
diction, but only hears appeals from the decisions of 
the other courts. In New York there is a “ supremest ” 
court, styled the court of appeals , which has the power 
of revising sundry judgments of the supreme court; 
and there is something similar in New Jersey, Illinois, 
Kentucky, and Louisiana. 1 

In the thirteen colonies the judges were appointed 
by the governor, with or without the consent of the 
council, and they held office during life or good be¬ 
haviour. Among the changes made in our state con¬ 
stitutions since the Revolution, there have been few 
more important than those which have affected the 
position of the judges. In most of the states they are 
now elected by the people for a term of years, some¬ 
times as short as two years. There is a growing feel¬ 
ing that this change was a mistake. It seems to have 
lowered the general character of the judiciary. The 
change was made by reasoning from analogy: it was 
supposed that in a free country all offices Elective and 
ought to be elective and for short terms, appointive 

° . # judges. 

But the case of a judge is not really analo¬ 
gous to that of executive officers, like mayors and 
governors and presidents. The history of popular 
liberty is much older than the history of the United 
States, and it would be difficult to point to an in- 
1 Wilson, The State , pp. 509-513. 


180 


THE STATE. 


stance in which popular liberty has ever suffered from 
the life tenure of judges. On the contrary, the judge 
ought to be as independent as possible of all transient 
phases of popular sentiment, and American experience 
during the past century seems to teach us that in the 
few states where the appointing of judges during life 
• or good behaviour has prevailed, the administration 
of justice has been better than in the states where the 
judges have been elected for specified terms. Since 
1869 there has been a marked tendency toward 
lengthening the terms of elected judges, and in several 
states there has been a return to the old method of 
appointing judges by the governor, subject to confir¬ 
mation by the senate. 1 It is one of the excellent fea¬ 
tures of our system of federal government, that the 
several states can thus try experiments each for itself 
and learn by comparison of results. When things are 
all trimmed down to a dead level of uniformity by the 
central power, as in France, a prolific source of valu¬ 
able experiences is cut off and shut up. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

1. Modifications of state government during the present cen¬ 

tury : — 

a. Property qualifications for office. 

b. The distinction between the upper and the lower house. 

c. The advantage in retaining a two-chambered legislature. 

2 . The suffrage : — 

a. The persons to whom it is granted. 

b. The qualifications established. 

c. The persons excluded from its exercise. 

3 . The separation of the executive and legislative depart¬ 

ments : — 

a. The relation of the great executive officers to legislation 

in Europe. 

b. The work of legislation in the United States. 

1 For details, see the admirable monograph of Henry Hitch¬ 
cock, American State Constitutions , p. 53 . 


THE STATE GOVERNMENTS. 181 

c. The most serious of the dangers that beset democratic 

government 

d. Important safeguards against such a danger. 

4. The state executive : — 

a. The governor as a part of the legislature. 

b. Officers always belonging to executive departments. 

c. Officers frequently belonging to executive departments. 

d. The relation of the governor to other elected executive 

officers. 

5. The ordinary functions of the governor : — 

a. Advising the legislature. 

b. Commanding the militia. 

c. Pardoning criminals or commuting their sentences. 

d. Vetoing acts of the legislature. 

6. Why is the power to veto particular items in a bill appro¬ 

priating public money an important safeguard against 
corruption ? 

7. Local self-government in the United States left unim¬ 

paired : — 

a. The extent of state supervision of towns and counties. 

b. The spirit thus developed in American citizens. 

8. A lesson from the symmetry of the French government: — 

a. The departments and their administration. 

b. The prefect and his duties. 

c. The department council and its sphere of action. 

d. The commune. 

e. The French system contrasted with the American. 

f. A common view of the political intelligence of the French. 

g. The probable effect of excessive state control upon the 

political intelligence of Americans. 

9. The greatness of the functions retained by the states under 

the federal government : — 

a. Powers granted to the government of the United States. 

b. The reason for granting such powers. 

c. The powers denied to the states. 

d. The reason for such prohibitions. 

e. The vast range of powers exercised by the states. 

f. The most important subjects of legislation in England for 

the past eighty years. 

g. The governments, state or national, to which these twelve 

subjects would have fallen in the United States. 

10. Speak of the independence of the state courts. 


182 


THE STATE. 


11. In what cases only may matters be transferred from them to 

a federal court ? 

12. The constitution of the state courts : — 

a. Justices of the peace ; the mayor’s court. 

b. County and municipal courts. 

c. The superior courts. 

d. The supreme court. 

e. Still higher courts in certain states. 

13. The selection of judges and their terms of service : — 

a. In the thirteen colonies. 

b. In most of the states since the Revolution. 

c. The reasons for a life tenure. 

d. The tendency since 1869 . 

14. Mention a conspicuous advantage of our system of govern¬ 

ment over the French. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS. 

1. Was there ever a charter government in your state ? If so, 

where is the charter at the present time ? What is its 
present value ? Try to see it, if possible. (Pupils of 
Boston and vicinity, for example, may examine in the 
office of the secretary of state, at the state house, the 
charter of King Charles ( 1629 ) and that of William and 
and Mary ( 1692 ). 

2 . When was your state organized under its present govern¬ 

ment ? If it is not one of the original thirteen, what 
was its history previous to organization ; that is, who 
owned it and controlled it, and how came it to become a 
state ? 

3. What are the qualifications for voting in your state ? 

4. What are the arguments in favour of an educational qualifica¬ 

tion for voters (as, for example, the ability to read the 
Constitution of the United States) ? What reasons 
might be urged against such qualifications ? 

5. Who is the governor of your state ? What political party 

supported him for the position? For what ability or 
eminent service was he selected ? 

60 Give illustrations of the governor’s exercise of the four func¬ 
tions of advising, vetoing, pardoning, and commanding 
(consult the newspapers while the legislature is in session). 
7. Mention some things done by the governor that are not in* 
eluded in the enumeration of his functions in the text. 


THE STATE GOVERNMENTS . 


183 


8 . Visit, if practicable, the State House. Observe the various 

offices, and consider the general nature of the business 
done there. Attend a session of the Senate or the House 
of Representatives. Obtain some “ orders of the day.’* 

9 . If the legislature is in session, follow its proceedings in the 

newspapers. What important measures are under dis¬ 
cussion ? On what sort of questions are party lines 
pretty sharply drawn ? On what sort of questions are 
party distinctions ignored ? 

10 . Consult the book of general or public statutes, and report on 

the following points : — 

a. The magnitude of the volume. 

b. Does it contain all the laws ? If not, what are omitted ? 

c. Give some of the topics dealt with. 

d. Where are the laws to be found that have been made 

since the printing of the volume ? 

e. Are the originals of the laws in the volume ? If not, 

where are they and in what shape ? 

11 . Is everybody expected to know all the laws ? 

12 . Does ignorance of the law excuse one for violating it ? 

13 . Suppose people desire the legislature to pass some law, as, 

for example, a law requiring towns and cities to provide 
flags for school-houses, how is the attention of the legisla¬ 
ture secured ? What are the various stages through 
which the bill must pass before it can become a law ? 
Why should there be so many stages ? 

14 . Give illustrations of the exercise of federal government, 

state government, and local government, in your own 
town or city. Of which government do you observe the 
most signs ? Of which do you observe the fewest signs ? 
Of which government do the officers seem most sensitive 
to local opinion ? 

15 . Are the sessions of the legislature in your state annual or 

biennial ? What is the argument for each system ? 

For answers to numbers 16, 17, 18, and 19, consult the public 
statutes, a lawyer, or some intelligent business man. A fair 
idea of the successive steps in the courts may be obtained from 
a good unabridged dictionary by looking up the technical terms 
employed in these questions. 

16 . What is the difference between a civil action and a criminal ? 
a. In respect to the object to be gained in each ? 


184 


THE STATE. 


b. In respect to the party that is the plaintiff ? 

c. In respect to the consequences to the defendant if the case 

goes against him ? 

17 . Give an outline of the procedure in a minor criminal action 

that is tried without a jury in a lower court. Consider 
(1) the complaint, ( 2 ) the warrant, (3) the return, (4) 
the recognizance, (5) the subpoena, ( 6 ) the arraignment, 
(7) the plea, ( 8 ) the testimony, (9) the arguments, (10) 
the judgment and sentence, and ( 11 ) the penalty and its 
enforcement. What is an appeal ? — This procedure 
seems cumbrous, but it is founded in common sense. 
What one of the foregoing steps, for example, would you 
omit ? Why ? 

18 . Give an outline of the procedure in a criminal action that is 

tried with a jury in a higher court. The action is begun 
in a lower court where the first five stages are the same 
as in number 17. Then follow ( 6 ) the examination of 
witnesses, (7) the binding over of the accused to appear 
before the higher court for trial, ( 8 ) the sending of the 
complaint and the proceedings thereon to the district or 
county attorney, (9) the indictment, (10) the action of 
the grand jury upon the indictment, ( 11 ) the challenging 
of jurors before the trial, (12) the arraignment, (13) the 
plea, (14) the testimony, (15) the arguments, (16) the 
charge to the jury, (17) the verdict, and (18) the sen¬ 
tence, with its penalty and the enforcement of it. What 
are “ exceptions ? ” — Why should there be a jury in the 
higher court when there is none in the lower ? What is 
the objection to dispensing with any one of the foregoing 
steps ? Does this machinery make it difficult to punish 
crime ? Why should an accused person receive so much 
consideration ? 

19 . Give an outline of the procedure in a minor civil action. 

Consider ( 1 ) the writ, ( 2 ) the attachment, (3) the sum¬ 
mons to the defendant, (4) the return, (5) the pleading, 
( 6 ) the testimony, (7) the arguments, ( 8 ) the judgment 
or decision of the judge, and (9) the execution. — If the 
action is conducted in a higher court, then a jury decides 
the question at issue, the judge instructing the jurors in 
points of law. 

20 . Suppose an innocent man is tried for an alleged crime and 

acquitted, has he any redress ? 


THE STATE GOVERNMENTS. 185 

21 . Is the enforcement of law complete and satisfactory in your 

community ? 

22 . What is your opinion of the general security of person and 

property in your community ? 

23 . Is there any connection between public sentiment about a 

law and the enforcement of that law ? If so, what is it ? 

24 . Any one of the twelve subjects of legislation cited on page 

177 may be taken as a special topic. Consult any mod¬ 
ern history of England. 

25 . Which do you regard as the more important possession for 

the citizen, — an acquaintance with the principles and de¬ 
tails of government and law, or a law-abiding and law¬ 
supporting spirit ? What reasons have you for your opin¬ 
ion ? Where is your sympathy in times of disorder, with 
those who defy the law or with those who seek to enforce 
it ? (Suppose a case in which you do not approve the 
law, and then answer.) 

26 . May you ever become an officer of the law ? Would you as 

a citizen be justified in withholding from an officer that 
obedience and moral support which you as an officer 
might justly demand from every citizen ? 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 


The State. —For the founding of the several colonies, their 
charters, etc., the student may profitably consult the learned 
monographs in Winsor’s Narrative and Critical History of 
America , 8 vols., Boston, 1886-89. A popular account, quite 
full in details, is given in Lodge’s Short History of the English 
Colonies in America , N. Y., 1881. There is a fairly good account 
of the revision and transformation of the colonial governments 
in Bancroft’s History of the United States , final edition, N. Y., 
1886, vol. v. pp. 111-125. 

The series of “ American Commonwealths,” edited by H. E. 
Scudder, and published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., will be 
found helpful. The following have been published : Johnston, 
Connecticut: a Study of a Commonwealth-Democracy , 1887; 
Roberts, New York: the Planting and Growth of the Empire 
State , 2 vols., 1887; Browne, Maryland: the History of a Palati- 




186 


THE STATE. 


nate, 2 d ed., 1884 ; Cooke, Virginia: a History of the People , 
1883 ; Shaler, Kentucky: a Pioneer Commonwealth, 1884 ; King, 
Ohio: First Fruits of the Ordinance of 1787,1888 ; Dunn, Indiana : 
a Redemption from Slavery , 1888 ; Cooley, Michigan : a History oj 
Governments , 1885 ; Carr, Missouri: a Bone of Contention , 1888 ; 
Spring, Kansas: the Prelude to the War for the Union, 1885; 
Royce, California: a Study of American Character, 1886; Bar- 
rows, Oregon : the Struggle for Possession, 1883. 

In connection with the questions on page 183, the student is 
advised to consult Dole’s Talks about Law: a Popular Statement 
of What our Law is and How it is Administered, Boston, 1887. 
This book deserves high praise. In a very easy and attractive 
way it gives an account of such facts and principles of law as 
ought to be familiarly understood by every man and woman. 


CHAPTER VII. 


WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS. 

Toward the close of the preceding chapter 1 1 spoke 
of three points especially characteristic of the American 
state, and I went on to mention two of them. The 
third point which I had in mind is so remarkable and 
important as to require a chapter all to itself., In the 
American state the legislature is not supreme, In the 
but has limits to its authority prescribed by ^Shereis 
a written document, known as the Constitu- J b ovethe 
tion; and if the legislature happens to pass leglslafcure * 
a law which violates the constitution, then whenever 
a specific case happens to arise in which this statute 
is involved, it can be brought before the courts, and 
the decision of the court, if adverse to the statute, 
annuls it and renders it of no effect. The impor¬ 
tance of this feature of civil government in the United 
States can hardly be overrated. It marks a momentous 
advance in civilization, and it is especially interesting 
as being peculiarly American. Almost everything 
else in our fundamental institutions was brought by 
our forefathers in a more or less highly developed 
condition from England ; but the development of the 
written constitution, with the consequent relation of 
the courts to the law-making power, has gone on en¬ 
tirely upon American soil. 

1 See above, p. 172. 


188 


WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS. 


The germs of the written constitution existed a 
great while ago. Perhaps it would not be easy to say 
just when they began to exist. It was formerly sup¬ 
posed by such profound thinkers as Locke and such 
Germs of the persuasive writers as Rousseau, that when 
writterujon- ^ rst men caffi e together to live in civil 
etitution. society, they made a sort of contract with 
one another as to what laws they would have, what 
beliefs they would entertain, what customs they would 
sanction, and so forth. This theory of the Social 
Contract was once famous, and exerted a notable in¬ 
fluence on political history, and it is still interesting 
in the same way that spinning-wheels and wooden 
frigates and powdered wigs are interesting; but we 
now know that men lived in civil society, with com¬ 
plicated laws and customs and creeds, for many 
thousand years before the notion had ever entered 
anybody’s head that things could be regulated by 
contract. That notion we owe chiefly to the ancient 
Our indebt- Romans, and it took them several centuries 
ancfen^Ro- 6 to comprehend the idea and put it into prac- 
mans - tice. We owe them a debt of gratitude for 
it. The custom of regulating business and politics 
and the affairs of life generally by voluntary but 
binding agreements is something without which we 
moderns would not think life worth living. It was 
after the Roman world — that is to say, Christendom, 
for in the Middle Ages the two terms were synony¬ 
mous — had become thoroughly familiar with the 
idea of contract, that the practice grew up of grant¬ 
ing written charters to towns, or monasteries, or other 
corporate bodies. The charter of a mediaeval town 
was a kind of written contract by which the town ob¬ 
tained certain specified immunities or privileges from 
the sovereign or from a great feudal lord, in exchange 


WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS. 


189 


for some specified service which often took the form 
of a money payment. It was common enough for a 
town to buy liberty for hard cash, just as a Me diaevai 
man might buy a farm. The word charter charters - 
originally meant simply a paper or written document, 
and it was often applied to deeds for the transfer of 
real estate. In contracts of such importance papers 
or parchment documents were drawn up and carefully 
preserved as irrefragable evidences of the transaction. 
And so, in quite significant phrase the towns zealously 
guarded their charters as the “title-deeds of their 
liberties.” 

After a while the word charter was applied in Eng¬ 
land to a particular document which speci 
fied certain important concessions forcibly charter” 
wrung by the people from a most unwilling (1215) * 
sovereign. This document was called Magna Charta , 
or the “ Great Charter,” signed at Runnymede, June 
15,1215, by John, king of England. After the king 
had signed it and gone away to his room, he rolled 
in a mad fury on the floor, screaming curses, and 
gnawing sticks and straw in the impotence of his 
wrath. 1 Perhaps it would be straining words to call 
a transaction in which the consent was so one-sided 
a “contract,” but the idea of Magna Charta was 
derived from that of the town charters with which 
people were already familiar. Thus a charter came 
to mean “ a grant made by the sovereign either to the 
whole people or to a portion of them, securing to 
them the enjoyment of certain rights.” Now in legal 
usage “ a charter differs from a constitution in this, 
that the former is granted by the sovereign, while the 
latter is established by the people themselves: both 
are the fundamental law of the land.” 2 The distinc- 

1 Green, Hist, of the English People y vol. i. p. 248. 

2 Bouvier, Law Dictionary , 12th ed., vol. i. p. 259. 


190 


WRITTEN CONS TI TUT IONS. 


tion is admirably expressed, but in history it is not 
always easy to make it. Magna Charta was in form a 
grant by the sovereign, but it was really drawn up by 
the barons, who in a certain sense represented the 
English people; and established by the people after a 
long struggle which was only in its first stages in 
John’s time. To some extent it partook of the nature 
of a written constitution. 

Let us now observe what happened early in 1689, 
after James II. had fled from England. On January 
28th parliament declared the throne vacant. Parlia¬ 
ment then drew up the “Declaration of Eights,” a 
document very similar in purport to the first eight 
amendments to our Federal Constitution, and on the 
13th of February the two houses offered the crown to 
William and Mary on condition of their accepting 
this declaration of the “ true, ancient, and indubitable 
rights of the people of this realm.” The crown hav¬ 
ing been accepted on these terms, parliament in the 
following December enacted the famous “Bill 

The“Billof ® . i i 

Rights ” of Eights, which simply put their previous 

declaration into the form of a declaratory 
statute. The Bill of Eights was not — even in form 
— a grant from a sovereign; it was an instrument 
framed by the representatives of the people, and with¬ 
out promising to respect it William and Mary could 
no more have mounted the throne than a president 
of the United States could be inducted into office if 
he were to refuse to take the prescribed oath of alle¬ 
giance to the Federal Constitution. The Bill of Eights 
was therefore, strictly speaking, a piece of written con¬ 
stitution ; it was a constitution as far as it went. 

The seventeenth century, the age when the build¬ 
ers of American commonwealths were coming from 
England, was especially notable in England for two 


WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS. 


191 


things. One was the rapid growth of modern com- 
mercial occupations and habits, the other was the tem¬ 
porary overthrow of monarchy, soon followed by the 
final subjection of the crown to parliament. Accord¬ 
ingly the sphere of contract and the sphere of popular 
sovereignty were enlarged in men’s minds, and the 
notion of a written constitution first began to find ex¬ 
pression. The “ Instrument of Government ” which 
in 1653 created the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell 
was substantially a written constitution, but it ema¬ 
nated from a questionable authority and was not rati¬ 
fied. It was drawn up by a council of army officers; 
and “ it broke down because the first parliament sum¬ 
moned under it refused to acknowledge its binding 
force.” 1 The dissolution of this parliament accord¬ 
ingly left Oliver absolute dictator. In 1656, when 
it seemed so necessary to decide what sort of Foreshadow- 
government the dictatorship of Cromwell American 
was to prepare the way for, Sir Harry Vane Ha^yVane 
proposed that a national convention should (1656 ^' 
be called for drawing up a written constitution. 2 The 
way in which he stated his case showed that he had in 
him a prophetic foreshadowing of the American idea 
as it was realized in 1787. But Vane’s ideas were 
too far in advance of his age to be realized then in 
England. Older ideas, to which men were more ac¬ 
customed, determined the course of events there, and 
it was left for Americans to create a government by 
means of a written constitution. And when Arner- 

1 Gardiner, Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution ,, 

p. lx. 

2 See Hosmer’s Young Sir Henry Vane, pp. 432-444, — one of 
the best books ever written for the reader who wishes to under¬ 
stand the staU of mind among the English people in the crisis 
when they laid the foundations of the United States. 


192 


WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS. 


ican statesmen dicl so, they did it without any refer¬ 
ence to Sir Harry Vane. His relation to the subject 
has been discovered only in later days, but I mention 
him here in illustration of the way in which great in¬ 
stitutions grow. They take shape when they express 
the opinions and wishes of a multitude of persons; 
but it often happens that one or two men of remark¬ 
able foresight had thought of them long beforehand. 

In America the first attempts at written constitu¬ 
tions were in the fullest sense made by the people, 
and not through representatives but directly. In the 
Mayflower’s cabin, before the Pilgrims had landed on 
Plymouth rock, they subscribed their names to a com- 
The May P ac * which they agreed to constitute them- 
flowercom- selves into a “body politic,” and to enact 
such laws as might be deemed best for the 
colony they were about to establish ; and they prom¬ 
ised “ all due submission and obedience ” to such 
laws. Such a compact is of course too vague to be 
called a constitution. Properly speaking, a written 
constitution is a document which defines the character 
and powers of the government to which its framers 
are willing to entrust themselves. Almost any kind 
of civil government might have been framed under 
the Mayflower compact, but the document is none the 
less interesting as an indication of the temper of the 
men who subscribed their names to it. 

The first written constitution known to history was 
that by which the republic of Connecticut was organ¬ 
ized in 1639. At first the affairs of the Connecticut 
settlements had been directed by a commission ap¬ 
pointed by the General Court of Massachusetts, but 
on the 14th of January, 1639, all the freemen of the 
three river towns — Windsor, Hartford, and Wethers¬ 
field — assembled at Hartford, and drew up a written 


WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS. 193 

constitution, consisting of eleven articles, in which 
the frame of government then and there The<tF 
adopted was distinctly described. This docu- damentai 
ment, known as the u Fundamental Orders of Connecticut 
Connecticut,” created the government under 
which the people of Connecticut lived for nearly two 
centuries before they deemed it necessary to amend 
it. The charter granted to Connecticut by Charles 
II. in 1662 was simply a royal recognition of the gov¬ 
ernment actually in operation since the adoption of 
the Fundamental Orders. 

In those colonies which had charters these docu¬ 
ments served, to a certain extent, the purposes of a 
written constitution. They limited the legislative 
powers of the colonial assemblies. The question 
sometimes came up as to whether some stat¬ 
ute made by the assembly was not in excess development 
of the powers conferred bv the charter, mai charter 

rrn . . ,, . . toward the 

Ihis question usually arose m connection modem state 

. , •11 ii constitution. 

with some particular law case, and thus came 
before the courts for settlement, — first before the 
courts of the colony ; afterwards it might sometimes 
be carried on appeal before the Privy Council in Eng¬ 
land. If the court decided that the statute was in 
transgression of the charter, the statute was thereby 
annulled. 1 The colonial legislature, therefore, was 
not a supreme body, even within the colony; its au¬ 
thority was restricted by the terms of the charter. 
Thus the Americans, for more than a century before 
the Revolution, were familiarized with the idea of a 
legislature as a representative body acting within cer¬ 
tain limits prescribed by a written document. They 
had no knowledge or experience of a supreme legis¬ 
lative body, such as the House of Commons has be- 
1 Bryce, American Commonwealth , vol. i. pp. 243, 415. 


194 


WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS. 


come since the founders of American states left Eng¬ 
land. At the time of the Revolution, when the sev¬ 
eral states framed new governments, they simply put 
a written constitution into the position of supremacy 
formerly occupied by the charter. Instead of a docu¬ 
ment expressed in terms of a royal grant, they adopted 
a document expressed in terms of a popular edict. To 
this the legislature must conform; and people were 
already somewhat familiar with the method of testing 
the constitutionality of a law by getting the matter 
brought before the courts. The mental habit thus 
generated was probably more important than any 
other single circumstance in enabling our Federal 
Union to be formed. Without it, indeed, it would 
have been impossible to form a durable union. 

Before pursuing this subject, we may observe that 
American state constitutions have altered very much 
. . . in character since the first part of the present 

Abnormal # . . r 

developing century. The earlier constitutions were con- 

of the state ^ 

constitution, fined to a general outline of the organization 

encroaching 0 ° 

upon the of the government. They did not undertake 

province of ° J 

t£re legi8la ’ to ma ^ e t ^ ie l aws > hut to prescribe the condi¬ 
tions under which laws might be made and 
executed. Recent state constitutions enter more and 
more boldly upon the general work of legislation. For 
example, in some states they specify what kinds of prop¬ 
erty shall be exempt from seizure for debt, they make 
regulations as to railroad freight-charges, they prescribe 
sundry details of practice in the courts, or they forbid 
the sale of intoxicating liquors. Until recently such 
subjects would have been left to the legislatures, no 
one would have thought of putting them into a consti¬ 
tution. The motive in so doing is a wish to put cer¬ 
tain laws into such a shape that it will be difficult to 
repeal them. What a legislature sees fit to enact this 


WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS. 


195 


year it may see fit to repeal next year. But amending 
a state constitution is a slow and cumbrous process. 
An amendment may be originated in the legislature, 
where it must secure more than a mere majority — 
perhaps a three fifths or two thirds vote — in order to 
pass; in some states it must be adopted by two suc¬ 
cessive legislatures, perhaps by two thirds of one and 
three fourths of the next; in some states not more 
than one amendment can be brought before the same 
legislature; in some it is provided that amendments 
must not be submitted to the people oftener than once 
in five years ; and so on. After the amendment has 
at length made its way through the legislature, it must 
be ratified by a vote of the people at the next general 
election. Another way to get a constitution amended 
is to call a convention for that purpose. In order to 
call a convention, it is usually necessary to obtain a 
two thirds vote in the legislature; but in some states 
“ the legislature is required at stated intervals to sub¬ 
mit to the people the question of holding such a con¬ 
vention, as in New Hampshire every seven years: in 
Iowa, every ten years; in Michigan, every sixteen 
years; in New York, Ohio, Maryland, and Virginia, 
every twenty years.” 1 A convention is a represen¬ 
tative body elected by the people to meet at some 
specified time and place for some specified purpose, 
and its existence ends with the accomplishment of that 
purpose. It is in this occasional character that the con¬ 
vention differs from an ordinary legislative assembly. 

With such elaborate checks against hasty action, it 
is to be presumed that if a law can be once embodied 
in a state constitution, it will be likely to have some 
permanence. Moreover, a direct vote by the peo- 

1 See Henry Hitchcock's admirable monograph, American 
State Constitutions , p. 19. 


196 


WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS . 


pie gives a weightier sanction to a law than a vote 
in the legislature. There is also, no doubt, a disposi¬ 
tion to distrust legislatures and in some measure do 
their work for them by direct popular enactment. 
For such reasons some recent state constitutions have 
come almost to resemble bodies of statutes. Mr. 
Woodrow Wilson suggestively compares this kind of 
popular legislation with the Swiss practice 

1 ^ ^ r „ . The Swiss 

known as the Heferendum : m most ot the “ Referen- 
Swiss cantons an important act of the legis¬ 
lature does not acquire the force of law until it has 
been referred to the people and voted on by them. 
“ The objections to the referendum ,” says Mr. Wilson, 
“ are, of course, that it assumes a discriminating judg¬ 
ment and a fulness of information on the part of the 
people touching questions of public policy which they 
do not often possess, and that it lowers the sense of re¬ 
sponsibility on the part of legislators.” 1 Another se¬ 
rious objection to our recent practice is that it tends to 
confuse the very valuable distinction between a consti¬ 
tution and a body of statutes, to necessitate a frequent 
revision of constitutions, and to increase the cumbrous¬ 
ness of law-making. It would, however, be premature 
at the present time to pronounce confidently upon a 
practice of such recent origin. It x is clear that its 
tendency is extremely democratic, and that it implies 
a high standard of general intelligence and independ¬ 
ence among the people. If the evils of the practice 
are found to outweigh its benefits, it will doubtless 
fall into disfavour. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

What is to be said with regard to the following topics ? 

I. A power above the legislature : — 
a. The constitution. 

1 Wilson, The State y p. 490. 


WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS. 19T 

b. The relation of the courts to laws that violate the consti¬ 

tution. 

c. The importance of this relation. 

d. The American origin of the written constitution. 

2 . The germs of the idea of a written constitution : — 

a. The theory of a “social contract.” 

b. The objection to this theory. 

c. Homan origin of the idea of contract. 

3 . Mediaeval charters : — 

a. The charter of a town. 

b. The word charter. 

c. Magna Charta. 

d. The difference between a charter and a constitution. 

e. The form of Magna Charta as contrasted with its essen¬ 

tial nature. 

4 . Documents somewhat resembling written constitutions : — 

a. The Declaration of Rights. 

b. The Bill of Rights. 

5 . The foreshadowing of the American idea of written consti¬ 

tutions : — 

a. Two conditions especially notable in England in the sev¬ 

enteenth century. 

b. The influence of these conditions on popular views of gov¬ 

ernment. 

c. The “ Instrument of Government.” 

d. Sir Harry Vane’s proposition. 

e. Why allude to Vane’s scheme when nothing came of it? 

6 . Early suggestions of written constitutions in America : —- 

a. The compact on the Mayflower. 

b. Wherein the compact fell short of a written constitution. 

c. The “ Fundamental Orders of Connecticut.” 

7 . The development of the colonial charter into a written con¬ 

stitution : — 

a. The limitation of the powers of colonial assemblies. 

b. The decision of questions relating to the trangression of a 

charter by a colonial legislature. 

c. The colonial assembly as contrasted with the House of 

Commons. 

d. The difference between the written constitution and the 

charter for which it was substituted. 

e. The readiness of the people to adopt written constitutions. 

8 . The extensive development of the written constitution in 

some states * — 


198 


WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS 


a. The simplicity of the earlier constitutions. 

b. Illustrations of the legislative tendencies of later consti¬ 

tutions. 

e. The motive for such extension of a constitution. 

d. The difficulty of amending a constitution. 

e. The legislative method of amendment. 

f. The convention method of amendment. 

g. The presumed advantage of embodying laws in the consti¬ 

tution. 

k A comparison with the Swiss Referendum. 

i. Objections to the Swiss Referendum. 

j. Other objections to the practice of putting laws into the 

constitution. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS. 

1. Do you belong to any society that has a constitution ? Has 

the society rules apart from the constitution ? Which 
may be changed the more readily ? Why not put all the 
rules into the constitution ? 

2 . Read the constitution of your state in part or in full. Give 

some account of its principal divisions, of the topics it 
deals with, and its magnitude or fulness. Are there any 
amendments ? If so, mention two or three, and give the 
reasons for their adoption. Is there any declaration of 
rights in it ? If so, what are some of the rights declared, 
and whose are they said to be ? 

3 . Where is the original'of your state constitution kept ? What 

sort of looking document do you suppose it to be ? 
Where would you look for a copy of it ? If a question 
- arises in any court about the interpretation of the consti¬ 
tution, must the original be produced to settle the wording 
of the document ? 

4 . Has any effort been made in your state to put into the con¬ 

stitution matters that have previously been subjects of leg¬ 
islative action ? If so, give an account of the effort, and 
the public attitude towards it. 

5 . Which is preferable,—a constitution that commands the 

approval of the people as a whole or that which has the 
support of a dominant political party only ? 

6 . Suppose it is your personal conviction that a law is unconsti¬ 

tutional, may you disregard it ? What consequences 
might ensue from such disregard ? 


WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS. 


199 


7 . May people honestly and amicably differ about the interpre¬ 

tation of the constitution or of a law, in a particular 
case ? If important interests are dependent on the inter¬ 
pretation, how can the true one be found out ? Does a 
lawyer’s opinion settle the interpretation ? What value 
has such an opinion ? Where must people go for au¬ 
thoritative and final interpretations of the laws? Can 
they get such interpretations by simply asking for them ? 

8 . The constitution of New Hampshire provides that when the 

governor cannot discharge the duties of his office, the 
president of the senate shall assume them. During the 
severe sickness of a governor recently, the president of 
the senate hesitated to act in his stead ; it was not clear that 
the situation was grave enough to warrant such a course. 
Accordingly the attorney-general of the state brought an 
action against the president of the senate for not doing 
his duty ; the court considered the situation, decided 
against the president of the senate, and ordered him to 
become acting governor. Why was this suit necessary ? 
Was it conducted in a hostile spirit ? Wherein did the 
decision help the state ? Wherein did it help the de¬ 
fendant ? Wherein may it possibly prove helpful in the 
future history of the state ? 

9 . Mention particular things that the governor, the legislature, 

and the judiciary of your state have done or may do. 
Then find the section or clause or wording in your state 
constitution that gives authority for each of these things. 
For example, read the particular part that authorizes your 
legislature : — 

a. To incorporate a city. 

b. To compel children to attend school. 

c. To buy uniforms for a regiment of soldiers. 

d. To establish a death penalty. 

e. To send a committee abroad to study a system of water¬ 

works. 

10 . Trace the authority of a school-teacher, a policeman, a select¬ 

man, a mayor, or of any public officer, back to some part 
of your constitution. 

11. Mention any parts of your constitution that seem general 

and somewhat indefinite, and that admit, therefore, of 
much freedom in interpretation. 

12 . Show how the people are, in one aspect, subordinate to the 

constitution ; in another, superior to it. 


200 


WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 


Written Constitutions. — Very little has been written ot 
published with reference to the history of the development of 
the idea of a written constitution. The student will find some 
suggestive hints in Hannis Taylor’s Origin and Growth of the 
English Constitution, vol. i., Boston, 1889. See Henry Hitchcock’s 
American State Constitutions ; a Study of their Growth, N. Y., 1887, 
a learned and valuable essay. See also J. H. U. Studies, I., xi., 
Alexander Johnston, The Genesis of a New England State ( Con¬ 
necticut ) ; III., ix.-x., Horace Davis, American Constitutions ; also 
Preston’s Documents Illustrative of American History , 1606-1863, 
N. Y. s 1886 ; Stubbs, Select Charters and other Illustrations of 
English Constitutional History, Oxford, 1870 ; Gardiner’s Consti¬ 
tutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution, Oxford, 1888. 



CHAPTER VIII. 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 

§ 1. Origin of the Federal Union, 

Having now sketched the origin and nature of 
written constitutions, we are prepared to understand 
how by means of such a document the government of 
our Federal Union was called into existence. We 
have already described so much of the civil govern¬ 
ment in operation in the United States that this ac¬ 
count can be made much more concise than if we had 
started at the top instead of the bottom and begun 
to portray our national government before saying a 
word about states and counties and towns. Bit by bit 
the general theory of American self-government has 
already been set before the reader. We have now to 
observe, in conclusion, what a magnificent piece of 
constructive work has been performed in accordance 
with that general theory. We have to observe the 
building up of a vast empire out of strictly self-gov¬ 
erning elements. 

There was always one important circumstance in 
favour of the union of the thirteen American colonies 
into a federal nation. The inhabitants were Engliah ^ 
all substantially one people. It is true that lii^coiS 
in some of the colonies there were a good me8, 
many persons not of English ancestry, but the Eng¬ 
lish tyj^e absorbed and assimilated everything else. 


202 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


All spoke the English language, all had English insti¬ 
tutions. Except the development of the written con¬ 
stitution, every bit of civil government described in 
the preceding pages came to America directly from 
England, and not a bit of it from any other country, 
unless by being first filtered through England. Our 
institutions were as English as our speech. It was 
therefore comparatively easy for people in one colony 
to understand people in another, not only as to their 
words but as to their political ideas. Moreover, dur¬ 
ing the first half of the eighteenth century, the com¬ 
mon danger from the aggressive French enemy on the 
north and west went far toward awakening in the 
thirteen colonies a common interest. And after the 
French enemy had been removed, the assertion by 
parliament of its alleged right to tax the Americans 
threatened all the thirteen legislatures at once, and 
thus in fact drove the colonies into a kind of federal 
union. 

Confederations among states have generally owed 
their origin, in the first instance, to military necessi¬ 
ties. The earliest league in America, among white 
The New people at least, was the confederacy of New 
fon&racy England colonies formed in 1648, chiefly for 
(1643-84). defence against the Indians. It was finally 
dissolved amid the troubles of 1684, when the first 
government of Massachusetts was overthrown. Along 
the Atlantic coast the northern and the southern col¬ 
onies were for some time distinct groups, separated 
by the unsettled portion of the central zone. The 
settlement of Pennsylvania, beginning in 1681, filled 
this gap and made the colonies continuous from the 
French frontier of Canada to the Spanish frontier of 
Florida. The danger from France began to be clearly 
apprehended after 1689, and in 1698 one of the 


ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL UNION. 203 

earliest plans of union was proposed by William 
Penn. In 1754, just as the final struggle with France 
was about to begin, there came Franklin’s famous 
plan for a permanent federal union; and this plan 
was laid before a congress assembled at Albany con- 
Albany for renewing the alliances with the gress (1754) - 
Six Nations. 1 Only seven colonies were represented 
in this congress. Observe the word “ congress.” If 
it had been a legislative body it would more likely 
have been called a “ parliament.” But of course it 
was nothing of the sort. It was a diplomatic body, 
composed of delegates representing state governments, 
like European congresses, — like the Congress of 
Berlin, for example, which tried to adjust the Eastern 
Question in 1878. Eleven years after the gt A 
Albany Congress, upon the news that parlia- congress 
ment had passed the Stamp Act, a congress 
of nine colonies assembled at New York in October, 
1765, to take action thereon. 

Nine years elapsed without another congress. Mean¬ 
while the political excitement, with occasional lulls, went 
on increasing, and some sort of cooperation between the 
colonial governments became habitual. In 1768, after 
parliament had passed the Townshend revenue acts, 
there was no congress, but Massachusetts sent a circu¬ 
lar letter to the other colonies, inviting them to co¬ 
operate in measures of resistance, and the committees 
other colonies responded favourably. In gp 0 nS* 
1772, as we have seen, committees of corre- ( 1772 “ 75 )- 
spondence between the towns of Massachusetts acted 
as a sort of provisional government for the common¬ 
wealth. In 1773 Dabney Carr, of Virginia, enlarged 
♦ 

*■' Franklin’s plan was afterward submitted to the several leg¬ 
islatures of the colonies, and was everywhere rejected because 
the need for union was nowhere strongly felt by the people. 


204 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


upon this idea, and committees of correspondence were 
forthwith instituted between the several colonies. 
Thus the habit of acting in concert began to be 
formed. In 1774, after parliament had passed an act 
overthrowing the government of Massachusetts, along 
with other offensive measures, a congress assembled 
in September at Philadelphia, the city most centrally 
situated as well as the largest. If the remonstrances 
adopted at this congress had been heeded by 

Continental ® " 

Congress the British government, and peace had fol¬ 
lowed, this congress would probably have 
been as temporary an affair as its predecessors ; people 
would probably have waited until overtaken by some 
other emergency. But inasmuch as war followed, the 
congress assembled again in May, 1775, and there¬ 
after became practically a permanent institution until 
it died of old age with the year 1788. 

This congress was called “ continental ” to distin* 
guish it from the “ provincial congresses ” held in 
several of the colonies at about the same time. The 
thirteen colonies were indeed but a narrow strip on 
the edge of a vast and in large part unexplored conti¬ 
nent, but the word “ continental ” was convenient for 
distinguishing between the whole confederacy and its 
several members. 

The Continental Congress began to exercise a cer¬ 
tain amount of directive authority from the time of 
its first meeting in 1774. Such authority as it had 
arose simply from the fact that it represented an 
agreement on the part of the several governments to 
The several P ilrsue a certain line of policy. It was a 
never at^ny diplomatic an d executive, but scarcely yet 
time sover- a legislative body. Nevertheless it was the 
visible symbol of a kind of union between 
the states. There never was a time when any one 


ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL UNION. 205 


of the original states exercised singly the full pow¬ 
ers of sovereignty. Not one of them was ever a small 
sovereign state like Denmark or Portugal. As they 
acted together under the common direction of the Brit¬ 
ish government in 1759, the year of Quebec, so they 
acted together under the common direction <5f that 
revolutionary body, the Continental Congress, in 1775, 
the year of Bunker Hill. In that year a “ continental 
army ” was organized in the name of the “ United 
Colonies.” In the following year, when independence 
was declared, it was done by the concerted action of 
all the colonies; and at the same time a committee 
was appointed by Congress to draw up a written con¬ 
stitution. This constitution, known as the 

j The Articlea 

“ Articles of Confederation,” was submitted of confed- 

~ . . eration. 

to Congress m the autumn or 1777, and was 

sent to the several states to be ratified. A unanimous 

ratification was necessary, and it was not until March 

1781, that unanimity was secured and the articles 

adopted. 

Meanwhile the Kevolutionary War had advanced 
into its last stages, having been carried on from the 
outset under the general direction of the Continental 
Congress. When reading about this period of our 
history, the student must be careful not to be misled 
by the name “ congress ” into reasoning as if there 
were any resemblance whatever between that body 
and the congress which was created by our Federal 
Constitution. The Continental Congress was not the 
parent of our Federal Congress; the former died 
without offspring, and the latter had a very different 
origin, as we shall soon see. The former simply be¬ 
queathed to the latter a name, that was all. 

The Continental Congress was an assembly of dele¬ 
gates from the thirteen states, which from 1774 to 


206 THE FEDERAL UNION. 

1783 held its sessions at Philadelphia. 1 It owned 
Nature and n0 federal property, not even the house in 
CoutinentS 6 which it assembled, and after it had been 
congress. turned out of doors by a mob of drunken 
soldiers in June, 1783, it flitted about from place to 
place, sitting now at Trenton, now at Annapolis, and 
finally at New York. 2 * Each state sent to it as many 
delegates as it chose, though after the adoption of the 
articles no state could send less than two or more than 
seven. Each state had one vote, and it took nine 
votes, or two thirds of the whole, to carry any meas¬ 
ure of importance. One of the delegates was chosen 
president or chairman of the congress, and this posi¬ 
tion was one of great dignity and considerable influ¬ 
ence, but it was not essentially different from the posi¬ 
tion of any of the other delegates. There were no 
distinct executive officers. Important executive mat¬ 
ters were at first assigned to committees, such as the 
Finance Committee and the Board of War, though at 
the most trying time the finance committee was a com¬ 
mittee of one, in the person of Kobert Morris, who was 
commonly called the Financier. The work of the 
finance committee was chiefly trying to solve the prob¬ 
lem of paying bills without spending money, for there 
was seldom any money to spend. Congress could not 
tax the people or recruit the army. When it wanted 
money or troops, it could only ask the state govern¬ 
ments for them ; and generally it got from a fifth to 
a fourth part of the troops needed, but of money a far 

1 Except for a few days in December, 1776, when it fled to 
Baltimore ; and again from September, 1777, to June, 1778, 
when Philadelphia was in possession of the British ; during that 
interval Congress held its meetings at York in Pennsylvania. 

2 See my Critical Period of American History , pp. 112, 271, 

306. 


ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL UNION. 207 


smaller proportion. Sometimes it borrowed money 
from Holland or France, but often its only resource 
was to issue paper promises to pay, or the so-called 
Continental paper money. There were no federal 
courts, 1 nor marshals to execute federal decrees. Con¬ 
gress might issue orders, but it had no means of com¬ 
pelling obedience. 

The Continental Congress was therefore not in the 
full sense a sovereign body. A government is not 
really a government until it can impose taxes and thus 
command the money needful for keeping it Ifc was not 
in existence. Nevertheless the Congress ex- ^ed^th 
ercised some of the most indisputable func- soverei & nt y- 
tions of sovereignty. “ It declared the independence 
of the United States; it contracted an offensive and 
defensive alliance with France; it raised and organ¬ 
ized a Continental army; it borrowed large sums of 
money, and pledged what the lenders understood to 
be the national credit for their repayment; it issued 
an inconvertible paper currency, granted letters of 
marque, and built a navy.” 2 Finally it ratified a 
treaty of peace with Great Britain. So that the Con¬ 
gress was really, in many respects, and in the eyes of 
the world at large, a sovereign body. Time soon 
showed that the continued exercise of such powers 
was not compatible with the absence of the power to 
tax the people. In truth the situation of the Conti¬ 
nental Congress was an illogical situation. In the ef¬ 
fort of throwing off the sovereignty of Great Britain, 
the people of these states were constructing a federal 
union faster than they realized. Their theory of the 

1 Except the Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture,” for an 
admirable account of which see Jameson’s Essays in the Consti¬ 
tutional History of the United States , pp. 1-45. 

2 Critical Period , p. 93. 


208 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


situation did not keep pace with the facts, and their 
first attempt to embody their theory, in the Articles 
of Confederation, was not unnaturally a failure. 

At first the powers of the Congress were vague. 
They were what are called “ implied war powers; ” 
that is to say, the Congress had a war with Great 
Britain on its hands, and must be supposed to have 
power to do whatever was necessary to bring the war 
to a successful conclusion. At first, too, when it had 
only begun to issue paper money, there was a momen¬ 
tary feeling of prosperity. Military success added to 
its appearance of strength, and the reputation of the 
Congress reached its high water mark early in 1778, 
after the capture of Burgoyne’s army and the mak¬ 
ing of the alliance with France. After that time, 
with the weary prolonging of the war, the increase of 
Decline of the public debt, and the collapse of the pa- 
nentaTcon- P er currency, its reputation steadily declined. 
greBs. There was also much work to be done in re¬ 
organizing the state governments, and this kept at 
home in the state legislatures many of the ablest men 
who would otherwise have been sent to the Congress. 
Thus in point of intellectual capacity the latter body 
was distinctly inferior in 1783 to what it had been 
when first assembled nine years earlier. 

The arrival of peace did not help the Congress, but 
made matters worse. When the absolute necessity of 
presenting a united front to the common enemy was 
removed, the weakness of the union was shown in 
many ways that were alarming. The sentiment of 
union was weak. In spite of the community in lan¬ 
guage and institutions, which was so favourable to 
union, the people of the several states had many local 
prejudices which tended to destroy the union in its in¬ 
fancy. A man was quicker to remember that he was 


ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL UNION. 209 


a New Yorker or a Massachusetts man than that he 
was an American and a citizen of the United States. 
Neighbouring states levied custom-house duties against 
one another, or refused to admit into their Anarchical 
markets each other’s produce, or had quar- tendenciea - 
rels about boundaries which went to the verge of war. 
Things grew worse every year until by the autumn 
of 1786, when the Congress was quite bankrupt and 
most of the states nearly so, when threats of secession 
were heard both in New England and in the South, 
when there were riots in several states and Massachu¬ 
setts was engaged in suppressing armed rebellion, 
when people in Europe were beginning to ask whether 
we were more likely to be seized upon by France or 
reconquered piecemeal by Great Britain, it came to be 
thought necessary to make some kind of a change. 

Men were most unwillingly brought to this conclu¬ 
sion, because they were used to their state assemblies 
and not afraid of them, but they were afraid of in¬ 
creasing the powers of any government superior to the 
states, lest they should thus create an unmanageable 
tyranny. They believed that even anarchy, though a 
dreadful evil, is not so dreadful as despotism, and for 
this view there is much to be said. After no end of 
trouble a convention was at length got together at 
Philadelphia in May, 1787, and after four months of 
work with closed doors, it was able to offer _ , 

, ™ . The Federal 

to the country the new Jb ederal Constitution, convention 
Both in its character and in the work which 
it did, this Federal Convention, over which Washing¬ 
ton presided, and of which Franklin, Madison, and 
Hamilton were members, was one of the most remark¬ 
able deliberative bodies known to history. 

We have seen that the fundamental weakness of 
the Continental Congress lay in the fact that it could 


210 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


not tax the people. Hence although it could for a 
time exert other high functions of sovereignty, it could 
only do so while money was supplied to it from other 
sources than taxation ; from contributions made by 
the states in answer to its “ requisitions,” from foreign 
loans, and from a paper currency. But such resources 
could not last long. It was like a man’s trying to live 
upon his own promissory notes and upon gifts and un¬ 
secured loans from his friends. When the supply of 
money was exhausted, the Congress soon found that 
it could no longer comport itself as a sovereign power ; 
it could not preserve order at home, and the situation 
abroad may be illustrated by the fact that George III. 
kept garrisons in several of our northwestern frontier 
towns and would not send a minister to the United 
States. This example shows that, among the sov¬ 
ereign powers of a government, the power of taxation 
is the fundamental one upon which all the others de¬ 
pend. Nothing can go on without money. 

But the people of the several states would never 
consent to grant the power of taxation to such a body 
as the Continental Congress, in which they were not 
represented. The Congress was not a legislature, but 
a diplomatic body; it did not represent the people, 
but the state governments; and a large state like 
Pennsylvania had no more weight in it than a little 
state like Delaware. If there was to be any central 
assembly for the whole union, endowed with the 
power of taxation, it must be an assembly represent¬ 
ing the American people just as the assembly of a 
single state represented the people of the state. 

As soon as this point became clear, it was seen to 
be necessary to throw the Articles of Confederation 
overboard, and construct a new national government. 
As was said above, our Federal Congress is not de- 


ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL UNION. 211 


scended from the Continental Congress. Its parent¬ 
age is to be sought in 'the state legislatures. Our 
federal government was constructed after the general 
model of the state governments, with some points 
copied from British usages, and some points that were 
original and new. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

1. What are the reasons for reserving the Constitution of the 

United States for the concluding chapter ? 

2 . Circumstances that favoured union of the colonies : — 

a. The origin of their inhabitants. 

b. All the details of their civil government. 

c. The ease with which they understood one another. 

d. Their common dangers, two in particular. 

3 . Earlier unions among the colonies : — 

a. The New England Confederacy, — its time, purpose, and 

duration. 

b. The French danger, and plans to meet it. 

c. The Albany Congress, — its nature and immediate purpose. 

d. The Stamp Act Congress. 

4 . Committees of correspondence : — 

a. The circular letter of Massachusetts in 1768. 

b. Town committees of correspondence in Massachusetts in 

1772. 

c. Colonial committees of correspondence in 1773. 

d. The habit established through these committees. 

5 . The Continental Congress : — 

a. The immediate causes that led to it. 

b. How it might have been temporary. 

c. How it became permanent. 

d. Its date, place of meeting, and duration. 

e. Why “continental” as distinguished from “provincial ?” 

f. The nature and extent of its authority. 

g. The states represented in it never fully sovereign. 

6 . Give an account of the “Articles of Confederation.” 

7 . Distinguish between the Continental Congress and the 

Federal. 

8 . The powers of the Continental Congress : — 

a. Its homelessness and wandering. 

b. its delegates and their voting power. 


212 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


c. Its presiding officer. 

d. Its management of executive matters. 

e. The finance committee and its problems. 
f The raising of money. 

g. The compelling of obedience. 

9 . The Continental Congress not a sovereign body : — 

a. The nature of real government. 

b. Some functions of sovereignty exercised by the Congress. 

c. The situation illogical. 

10 . Explain the “ implied war powers ” of the Congress. 

11 . When was the Congress at the height of its reputation, and 

why ? 

12 . Explain the decline in its reputation from 1778 to 1783. 

13 . The alarming weakness of the union after 1783 : — 

a. The effect of peace upon the union. 

b. Local prejudices. 

c. State antagonisms. 

d. The gloomy outlook in 1786. 

14 . The Federal Convention in 1787 : — 

a. The reluctance to make the change that was felt to be 

needed. 

b. Some facts about the Convention. 

c. The character of its delegates. 

d. The fundamental weakness of the Continental Congress. 

e. The fundamental power of a strong government. 

f The objection to granting the power of taxation to the 
Continental Congress. 

g. The sort of assembly demanded for exercising the taxing 

power. 

h. The model on which the federal government was built. 

§ 2. The Federal Congress. 

The federal House of Representatives is descended, 
through the state houses of representatives, from the 
colonial assemblies. It is an assembly representing 
the whole population of the country as if it were all 
„ in one great state. It is composed of mem- 
of Represen- bers chosen every other year by the people 
of the states. V Persons in any state who are 
qualified to vote for state representatives are qualified 


THE FEDERAL CONGRESS . 


213 


to vote for federal representatives. This arrange¬ 
ment left the power of regulating the suffrage in the 
hands of the several states, where it still remains, save 
for the restriction imposed in 1870 for the protection 
of the southern freedmen. A candidate for election 
to the House of Representatives must be twenty-five 
years old, must have been seven years a citizen of the 
United States, and must be an inhabitant of the state 
in which he is chosen. 

As the Federal Congress is a taxing body, repre¬ 
sentatives and direct taxes are apportioned among 
the several states according to the same rule, that is, 
according to population. At this point a difficulty 
arose in the Convention as to whether slaves should 
be counted as population. If they were to be counted, 
the relative weight of the slave states in all matters of 
national legislation would be much increased. The 
northern states thought, with reason, that it would be 
unduly increased. The difficulty was ad- T])ethree 
iusted by a compromise according to which fifths com- 

d * x 0 promise. 

five slaves were to be reckoned as three per¬ 
sons. Since the abolition of slavery this provision 
has become obsolete, but until 1860 it was a very im¬ 
portant factor in American history. 1 

In the federal House of Representatives the great 
states of course have much more weight than the 
small states. In 17 90 the four largest states had 32 
representatives, while the other nine had only 33. 
The largest state, Virginia, had 10 representatives to 
1 from Delaware. These disparities have increased. 
In 1880, out of thirty-eight states the nine largest had 
a majority of the house, and the largest state, New 
York, had 34 representatives to 1 from Delaware. 

This feature of the House of Representatives caused 
1 See my Critical Period^ pp. 257-262. 


214 


THE FEDERAL UNION . 


the smaller states in the Convention to oppose the 
whole scheme of constructing a new government. 
They were determined that great and small states 
should have equal weight in Congress. Their stead¬ 
fast opposition threatened to ruin everything, when 
fortunately a method of compromise was discovered. 
It was intended that the national legislature, in imita¬ 
tion of the state legislatures, should have an upper 
house or senate; and at first the advocates of a strong 
c national government proposed that the senate 
necticut also should represent population, thus differ- 

compromise. . A A A . 

mg from the lower house only in the way in 
which we have seen that it generally differed in the 
several states. But it happened that in the state of 
Connecticut the custom was peculiar. There it had 
always been the custom to elect the governor and 
upper house by a majority vote of the whole people, 
while for each township there was an equality of rep¬ 
resentation in the lower house. The Connecticut del¬ 
egates in the Convention, therefore, being familiar 
with a legislature in which the two houses were com¬ 
posed on different principles, suggested a compromise. 
Let the House of Representatives, they said, repre¬ 
sent the people, and let the Senate represent the 
states; let all the states, great and small, be repre¬ 
sented equally in the federal Senate. Such was the 
famous “ Connecticut Compromise.” Without it the 
Convention would probably have broken up without 
accomplishing anything. When it was adopted, half 
the work of making the new government was done, 
for the small states, having had their fears thus allayed 
by the assurance that they were to be equally repre¬ 
sented in the Senate, no longer opposed the work but 
cooperated in it most zealously. 

Thus it came to pass that the upper house of our 


THE FEDERAL CONGRESS. 


215 


national legislature is composed of two senators from 
each state. As they represent the state, they are chosen 
by its legislature and not by the people ; but 
when they have taken their seats in the Sen¬ 
ate they do not vote by states, like the delegates in 
the Continental Congress. On the contrary each sen¬ 
ator has one vote, and the two senators from the same 
state may, and often do, vote on opposite sides. 

In accordance with the notion that an upper house 
should be somewhat less democratic than a lower 
house, the term of office for senators was made longer 
than for representatives. The tendency is to make 
the Senate respond more slowly to changes in popular 
sentiment, and this is often an advantage. Popular 
opinion is often very wrong at particular moments, 
but with time it is apt to correct its mistakes. We 
are usually in more danger of suffering from hasty 
legislation than from tardy legislation. Senators are 
chosen for a term of six years, and one third of the num¬ 
ber of terms expire every second year, so that, while 
the whole Senate may be renewed by the lapse of six 
years, there is never a 44 new Senate.” The Senate 
has thus a continuous existence and a permanent or¬ 
ganization ; whereas each House of Representatives 
expires at the end of its two years’ term, and is suc¬ 
ceeded by a 46 new House,” which requires to be organ¬ 
ized by electing its officers, etc., before proceeding to 
business. A candidate for the senatorship must have 
reached the age of thirty, must have been nine years 
a citizen of the United States, and must be an inhab¬ 
itant of the state which he represents. 

The constitution leaves the times, places, and man¬ 
ner of holding elections for senators and representa¬ 
tives to be prescribed in each state by its own legisla¬ 
ture ; but it gives to Congress the power to alter such 


216 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


Electoral 

districts. 


regulations, except as to the place of choosing sen¬ 
ators. Here we see a vestige of the original theory 
according to which the Senate was to be peculiarly the 
home of state rights. 

In the composition of the House of Representatives 
the state legislatures play a very important part. For 
the purposes of the election a state is divided into dis¬ 
tricts corresponding to the number of representatives 
the state is entitled to send to Congress. These electo¬ 
ral districts are marked out by the legislature, 
and the division is apt to be made by the 
preponderating party with an unfairness that is at 
once shameful and ridiculous. The aim, of course, is 
so to lay out the districts “ as to secure in the greatest 
possible number of them a majority for the party 
which conducts the operation. This is done some¬ 
times by throwing the greatest possible number of 
hostile voters into a district which is anyhow certain 
to be hostile, sometimes by adding to a district where 
parties are equally divided some place in which the ma¬ 
jority of friendly voters is sufficient to turn the scale. 
There is a district in Mississippi (the so-called Shoe 
String district) 250 miles long by 30 broad, and an¬ 
other in Pennsylvania resembling a dumb-bell. . . . 
In Missouri a district has been contrived longer, if 
measured along its windings, than the state itself, into 
which as large a number as possible of the negro 
voters have been thrown.” 1 This trick is called “ ger- 
« Gerryman- rym an dering,” from Elbridge Gerry, of Mas- 
denn g .” sachusetts, who was vice - president of the 
United States from 1813 to 1817. It seems to have 
been first devised in 1788 by the enemies of the Fed¬ 
eral Constitution in Virginia, in order to prevent the 
election of James Madison to the first Congress, and 
1 Bryce, American Commonwealth, vol. i. p. 121. 


THE FEDERAL CONGRESS. 


217 


fortunately it was unsuccessful. 1 It was introduced 
some years afterward into Massachusetts. In 1812, 
while Gerry was governor of that state, the Republi¬ 
can legislature redistributed the districts in such wise 
that the shapes of the towns forming a single district 
in Essex county gave to the district a somewhat drag¬ 



on-like contour. This was indicated upon a map of 
Massachusetts which Benjamin Russell, an ardent 
Federalist and editor of the “ Centinel,” hung up over 
the desk in his office. The celebrated painter, Gilbert 
Stuart, coming into the office one day and observing 
the uncouth figure, added with his pencil a head, wings, 
and claws, and exclaimed, “ That will do for a sala¬ 
mander ! ” “ Better say a Gerrymander! ” growled 

1 Tyler’s Patrick Henry, p. 313. 


218 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


the editor; and the outlandish name, thus duly coined, 
soon came into general currency. 1 

When after an increase in its number of represen¬ 
tatives the state has failed to redistribute its districts, 
the additional member or members are voted for upon 
a general state ticket, and are called “ representatives 
at large.” In Maine, where the census of 1880 had 
reduced the number of representatives and there was 
some delay in the redistribution, Congress allowed the 
State in 1882 to elect all its representatives upon a 
general ticket. The advantage of the district system 
is that the candidates are likely to be better known by 
The election their neighbours, but the election at large is 
at large. perhaps more likely to secure able men. 2 It 
is the American custom to nominate only residents of 
the district as candidates for the House of Represen¬ 
tatives. A citizen of Albany, for example, would not 
be nominated for the district in which Buffalo is situ¬ 
ated. In the British practice, on the other hand, if 
an eminent man cannot get a nomination in his own 
county or borough, there is nothing to prevent his 
standing for any other county or borough. This sys¬ 
tem seems more favourable to the independence of the 
legislator than our system. Some of its advantages 
are obtained by the election at large. 

Congress must assemble at least once in every year, 
and the constitution appoints the first Monday in De- 
Time of as- cember for the time of meeting; but Con¬ 
senting. g ress can, if W orth while, enact a law chang- 

1 Winsor’s Memorial History of Boston, vol. iii. p. 212 ; see 
also Bryce, loc. cit. The word is sometimes incorrectly pro¬ 
nounced “ jerrymander.” Mr. Winsor observes that the back 
line of the creature’s body forms a profile caricature of Gerry’s 
face, with the nose at Middleton. 

2 The difference is similar to the difference between the French 
scrutin d’arrondissement and scrutin de liste. 


THE FEDERAL CONGRESS . 


219 


ing the time. The established custom is to hold the 
election for representatives upon the same day as the 
election for president, the Tuesday after the first 
Monday in November. As the period of the new 
administration does not begin until the fourth day of 
the following March, the new House of Representa¬ 
tives does not assemble until the December following 
that date, unless the new president should at some ear- 
lier moment summon an extra session of Congress. It 
thus happens that ordinarily the representatives of the 
nation do not meet for more than a year after their 
election; and as their business is at least to give legis¬ 
lative expression to the popular opinion which elected 
them, the delay is in this instance regarded by many 
persons as inconvenient and injudicious. 

Each house is judge of the elections, qualifications, 
and returns of its own members; determines its own 
rules of procedure, and may punish its members for 
disorderly behaviour, or by a two thirds vote expel a 
member. Absent members may be compelled under 
penalties to attend. Each house is required to keep a 
journal of its proceedings and at proper intervals to 
publish it, except such parts as for reasons of public 
policy had better be kept secret. At the request of 
one fifth of the members present, the yeas and nays 
must be entered on the journal. During the session 
of Congress neither house may, without consent of 
the other, adjourn for more than three days, or to any 
other place than that in which Congress is sitting. 

Senators and representatives receive a salary fixed 
by law, and as they are federal functionaries they are 
paid from the federal treasury. In all cases, except 
treason or felony or breach of the peace, they are 
privileged from arrest during their attendance in Con¬ 
gress, as also while on their way to it and while re¬ 
turning home; “ and for any speech or debate in either 


220 THE FEDERAL UNION. 

house they shall not be questioned in any other place.” 
Privileges of These provisions are reminiscences of the 
members. ev il days when the king strove to interfere, 
by fair means or foul, with free speech in parliament; 
and they are important enough to be incorporated in 
the supreme law of the land. No person can at the 
same time hold any civil office under the United 
States government and be a member of either house 
of Congress. 

The vice-president is the presiding officer of the 
Senate, with power to vote only in case of a tie. The 
House of Representatives elects its presiding officer, 
The speaker w ^° 18 ca ^ e( ^ Speaker. In the early his¬ 
tory of the House of Commons, its presiding 
officer was naturally enough its spokesman. He could 
speak for it in addressing the crown. Henry of 
Keighley thus addressed the crown in 1301, and there 
were other instances during that century, until in 
1376 the title of Speaker was definitely given to Sir 
Thomas Hungerford, and from that date the list is un¬ 
broken. The title was given to the presiding officers of 
the American colonial assemblies, and thence it passed 
on to the state and federal legislatures. The Speaker 
presides over the debates, puts the question, and de¬ 
cides points of order. He also appoints the commit¬ 
tees of the House of Representatives, and as the 
initiatory work in our legislation is now so largely 
done by the committees, this makes him the most pow¬ 
erful officer of the government except the President. 

The provisions for impeachment of public officers 
are copied from the custom in England. Since the 
fourteenth century the House of Commons has occa¬ 
sionally exercised the power of impeaching the king’s 
ministers and other high public officers, and although 
the power was not used during the sixteenth century, 


THE FEDERAL CONGRESS. 221 

it was afterward revived and conclusively established. 
In 1701 it was enacted that the royal pardon 
could not be pleaded against an impeach- JSinEng- 
ment, and this act finally secured the respon- an ’ 
sibility of the king’s ministers to Parliament. An 
impeachment is a kind of accusation or indictment 
brought against a public officer by the House of Com¬ 
mons. The court in which the case is tried is the 
House of Lords, and the ordinary rules of judicial pro¬ 
cedure are followed. The regular president of the 
House of Lords is the Lord Chancellor, who is the 
highest judicial officer in the kingdom. A simple ma¬ 
jority vote secures conviction, and then it is left for the 
House of Commons to say whether judgment shall be 
pronounced or not. 

In the United States the House of Representatives 
has the sole power of impeachment, and the Senate 
has the sole power to try all impeachments. When 
the president of the United States is tried, Impe ach- 
the chief-justice must preside. As a precau- united 1 the 
tion against the use of impeachment for state8, 
party purposes, a two thirds vote is required for con¬ 
viction ; and this precaution proved effectual (fortu¬ 
nately, as most persons now admit) in the famous 
case of President Johnson in 1868. In case of con¬ 
viction the judgment cannot extend further than “ to 
removal from office, and disqualification to hold and 
enjoy any office of honour, trust, or profit under the 
United States; ” but the person convicted is liable 
afterward to be tried and punished by the ordinary 
process of law. 

The provisions of the Constitution for legislation 
are admirably simple. All bills for raising revenue 
must originate in the lower house, but the upper 
house may propose or concur with amendments, as 


222 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


on other bills. This provision was inherited from 
Parliament, through the colonial legislatures. After 
a bill has passed both houses it must be sent to the 
president for approval. If he approves it, he signs 
it; if not, he returns it to the house in which it 
originated, with a written statement of his 
of the pres- objections, and this statement must be en. 

tered in full upon the journal of the house. 
The bill is then reconsidered, and if it obtains a two 
thirds vote, it is sent, together with the objections, to 
the other house. If it there likewise obtains a two 
thirds vote, it becomes a law, in spite of the objec¬ 
tions. Otherwise it fails. If the president keeps a 
bill longer than ten days (Sundays excepted) with¬ 
out signing it, it becomes a law without his signa¬ 
ture ; unless Congress adjourns before the expiration 
of the ten days, in which case it fails to become a law, 
just as if it had been vetoed. This method of vetoing 
a bill just before the expiration of a Congress, by 
keeping it in one’s pocket, so to speak, was dubbed a 
“ pocket veto,” and was first employed by President 
Jackson in 1829. The president’s veto power is a 
qualified form of that which formerly belonged to the 
English sovereign but has now, as already observed, 
become practically obsolete. Asa means of guarding 
the country against unwise legislation, it has proved 
to be one of the most valuable features of our Federal 
Constitution. In bad hands it cannot do much harm ; 
it can only delay for a short time a needed law. But 
when properly used it can save the country from laws 
that if once enacted would sow seeds of disaster very 
hard to eradicate ; and it has repeatedly done so. A 
single man will often act intelligently where a group 
of men act foolishly, and, as already observed, he is 
apt to have a keener sense of responsibility. 


THE FEDERAL CONGRESS. 


223 


QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

What is to be said with regard to the following topics ? 

1. v Tlie House of Representatives : — 

a. Its relation to the people. 

b. The term of service. 

c- Qualifications of those who may vote for representa¬ 
tives. 

d. Qualifications for membership. 

e. The three fifths compromise. 

2 . The Connecticut Compromise. 

a. The powers of the different states in the House. 

b. Opposition to the scheme of a new government. 

c. What the advocates of a strong government wanted the 

Senate to represent. 
d> A peculiar Connecticut system. 

e. The suggestion of the Connecticut delegates. 

f. The effect of the compromise. 

3 . The Senate :—* 

a. The number of senators. 

b. The method of electing senators. 

c. The voting of senators. 

d. The term of service. 

e. The maintenance of a continuous existence. 

f. A comparison with the House in respect ta nearness to the 

people. 

g. Qualifications for membership. 

4 . Elections for senators and representatives : — 

a. Times, places, and manner of holding elections. 

b. The power of Congress over state regulations. 

c. Electoral districts. 

d. The temptation to unfairness in laying out electoral dis¬ 

tricts. 

e. Illustrations of unfair divisions. 

f. “ Gerrymandering.” 

g. Representatives at large. 

h. The advantage of the district system. 

i. The British system and its advantage. 

5 . The assembling of Congress : — 

a. The time of assembling. 

b. The interval between a member’s election and the begin¬ 

ning of his service. 


224 


THE FEDERAL UNION . 


c. The disadvantage of this long interval. 

6 . What is the duty of each house in respect (1) to its member¬ 

ship, (2) its rules, (3) its records, and (4) its adjourn¬ 
ment. 

7 . Give an account (1) of the pay of a congressman, ( 2 ) of 

his freedom from arrest, (3) of his responsibility for 
words spoken in debate, and (4) of his right to hold 
other office. 

8 . Tell (1) who preside in Congress, ( 2 ) how the name speaker 

originated, (3) what the speaker’s duties are, and (4) 
what his power in the government is. 

9 . Impeachment of public officers : — 

a . Old English usage. 

b. The conduct of an impeachment trial in England. 

c. The conduct of an impeachment trial in the United States. 

d. The penalty in case of conviction. 

10 . The provisions of the Constitution for legislation : — 

a. Bills for raising revenue. 

b. How a bill becomes a law. 

c. The president’s veto power. 

d. Passage of a bill over the president’s veto. 

e. The “ pocket veto.” 

f. The veto power in England. 

g. The value of the veto power. 


§ 3. The Federal Executive. 

In signing or vetoing bills passed by Congress tbe 
president shares in legislation, and is virtually a third 
house. In his other capacities he is the chief executive 
officer of the Federal Union; and inasmuch as he 
appoints the other great executive officers, he is really 
the head of the executive department, not — like the 
governor of a state — a mere member of it. His title 
of “ President ” is probably an inheritance from the 

The title of P res ^ en ^ s Continental Congress. In 

“Presi- Franklin’s plan of union, in 1754, the head 

dent.” A 7 7 

of the executive department was called 
Governor General,” but that title had an unpleasant 


THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE, 


225 


sound to American ears. Our great-grandfathers liked 
“ president ” better, somewhat as the Romans, in the 
eighth century of their city, preferred “ imperator ” 
to “rex.” Then, as it served to distinguish widely 
between the head of the Union and the heads of the 
states, it soon fell into disuse in the state governments, 
and thus “ president ” has come to be a much grander 
title than “ governor,” just as “ emperor ” has come 
to be a grander title than “ king.” 1 

There was no question which perplexed the 
Federal Convention more than the question as to the 
best method of electing the president. There was a 
general distrust of popular election for an office so 
exalted. At one time the Convention decided to have 
the president elected by Congress, but there was a 
grave objection to this ; it would be likely to destroy 
his independence, and make him the tool of Congress. 
Finally the device of an electoral college was The electoral 
adopted. Each state is entitled to a number colIege * 
of electors equal to the number of its representatives 
in Congress, plus two, the number of its senators. 
Thus to-day Delaware, with 1 representative, has 3 
electors; Missouri, with 14 representatives, has 16 
electors; New York, with 34 representatives, has 36 
electors. No federal senator or representative, or any 
person holding civil office under the United States, 
can serve as an elector. Each state may appoint or 
choose its electors in such manner as it sees fit; at 
first they were more often than otherwise chosen by 
the legislatures, now they are always elected by the 
people. The day of election must be the same in all 
the states. 

By an act of Congress passed in 1792 it is required 
to be within 34 days preceding the first Wednesday in 
1 See above p. 163. 


226 


THE FEDERAL UNION 


December. A subsequent act in 1845 appointed the 
Tuesday following the first Monday in November as 
election day. 

By the act of 1792 the electors chosen in each state 
are required to assemble on the first Wednesday in 
December at some place in the state which is desig¬ 
nated by the legislature. Before this date the gov* 
ernor of the state must cause a certified list of the 
names of the electors to be made out in triplicate and 
delivered to the electors. Having met together they 
vote for president and vice-president, make out a 
sealed certificate of their vote in triplicate, and attach 
to each copy a copy of the certified list of their names. 
One copy must be delivered by a messenger to the 
president of the Senate at the federal capital before 
the first Wednesday in January; the second is sent 
to the same officer through the mail; the third is to 
be deposited with the federal judge of the district in 
which the electors meet. If by the first W ednesday 
in January the certificate has not been received at 
the federal capital, the secretary of state is to send a 
messenger to the district judge and obtain the copy 
deposited with him. The interval of a month was 
allowed to get the returns in, for those were not the 
days of railroad and telegraph. The messengers were 
allowed twenty-five cents a mile, and were subject to 
a fine of a thousand dollars for neglect of duty. On 
the second Wednesday in February, Congress is re¬ 
quired to be in session, and the votes received are 
counted and the result declared. 1 

At first the electoral votes did not state whether 
the candidates named in them were candidates for the 
presidency or for the vice-presidency. Each elector 
simply wrote down two names, only one of which 
could be the name of a citizen of his own state. In 
1 See note on p. 278. 


THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE . 


227 


the official count the candidate who had the largest 
number of votes, provided they were a majority of 
the Avhole number, was declared president, and the 
candidate who had the next to the largest number 
was declared vice-president. The natural result of 
this was seen in the first contested election in 1796, 
which made Adams president, and his antagonist vice- 
president. In the next election in 1800 it gave to 
Jefferson and his colleague Burr exactly the same 
number of votes. In such a case the House of Rep¬ 
resentatives must elect, and such intrigues followed 
for the purpose of defeating Jefferson that the country 
was brought to the verge of civil war. It thus became 
necessary to change the method. By the twelfth amend¬ 
ment to the constitution, declared in force 
in 1804, the present method was adopted, amendment 

7 A A (1804). 

The electors make separate ballots for presi¬ 
dent and for vice-president. In the official count the 
votes for president are first inspected. If no candi¬ 
date has a majority, then the House of Representatives 
must immediately choose the president from the three 
names highest on the list. In this choice the house 
votes by states, each state having one vote ; a quorum 
for this purpose mpst consist of at least one member 
from two thirds of the states, and a majority of all 
the states is necessary for a choice. Then if no can¬ 
didate for the vice-presidency has a majority, the 
Senate makes its choice from the two names highest 
on the list; a quorum for the purpose consists of two 
thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority 
of the whole number is necessary to a choice. Since 
this amendment was made there has been one instance 
of an election of the president by the House of Rep¬ 
resentatives,— that of John Quincy Adams in 1825; 
and there has been one instance of an election of the 


228 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


vice-president by the Senate, — that of Richard Men. 
tor Johnson in 1837. 

One serious difficulty was not yet foreseen and pro¬ 
vided for — that of deciding between two conflicting 
returns cent in by two hostile sets of electors in the 
same state, each list being certified by one of two 
rival governors claiming authority in the same state. 
Such a case occurred in 1877, when Florida, Louisiana, 
and South Carolina were the scene of struggles be¬ 
tween rival governments. Ballots for Tilden and bal¬ 
lots for Hayes were sent in at the same time from 
these states, and in the absence of any recognized 
means of determining which ballots to 

The electoral . . 

commission count, the two parties in Congress submitted 
the result to arbitration. An “electoral 
commission ” was created for the occasion, composed 
of five senators, five representatives, and five judges 
of the supreme court; and this body decided what 
votes were to be counted. It was a clumsy expedient, 
but infinitely preferable to civil war. The question 
of conflicting returns has at length been set at rest by 
the act of 1887, which provides that no electoral votes 
can be rejected in counting except by the concurrent 
action of the two houses of Congress. 

The devolution of the presidential office in case of 
the president’s death has also been made the subject 
of legislative change and amendment. The office of 
vice-president was created chiefly for the purpose of 
meeting such an emergency. Upon the accession of 
the vice-president to the presidency, the Senate would 
proceed to elect its own president pro tempore ,. An 
act of 1701 provided that in case of the death, resigna- 
Presidentiai tion, or disability of both president and vice- 
euccesaion. p res id en t, the succession should devolve first 
upon the president pro tempore of the Senate and 


THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE. 


229 


then upon the speaker of the House of Representa¬ 
tives, until the disability should be removed or a new 
election be held. But supposing a newly elected 
president to die and be succeeded by the vice-presi¬ 
dent before the assembling of the newly elected Con¬ 
gress ; then there would be no president pro tempore 
of the Senate and no speaker of the House of Repre¬ 
sentatives, and thus the death of one person might 
cause the presidency to lapse. Moreover the presid¬ 
ing officers of the two houses of Congress might be 
members of the party defeated in the last presidential 
election ; indeed, this is often the case. Sound policy 
and fair dealing require that a victorious party shall 
not be turned out because of the death of the presi¬ 
dent and vice-president. Accordingly an act of 1886 
provided that in such an event the succession should 
devolve upon the members of the cabinet in the follow¬ 
ing order: secretary of state, secretary of the treasury, 
secretary of war, attorney-general, postmaster-general, 
secretary of the navy, secretary of the interior. This 
would seem to be ample provision against a lapse. 

To return to the electoral college : it was devised 
as a safeguard against popular excitement. It was 
supposed that the electors in their December meeting 
would calmly discuss the merits of the ablest men in 
the country and make an intelligent selection for the 
presidency. The electors were to use their . . 

1 # •> % Original pur- 

own iudgment, and it was not necessary that pose of the 

J o 7 J _ electoral col- 

all the electors chosen in one state should lese not ful¬ 
filled. 

vote for the same candidate. The people on 
election day were not supposed to be voting for a 
president but for presidential electors. This theory 
was never realized. The two elections of Washington, 
in 1788 and 1792, were unanimous. In the second 
contested election, that of 1800, the electors simply 


230 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


registered the result of the popular vote, and it has 
been so ever since. Immediately after the popular 
election, a whole month before the meeting of the 
electoral college, we know who is to be the next presi¬ 
dent. There is no law to prevent an elector from vot¬ 
ing for a different pair of candidates from those at the 
head of the party ticket, but the custom has become 
as binding as a statute. The elector is chosen to vote 
for specified candidates, and he must do so. 

On the other hand, it was not until long after 1800 
that all the electoral votes of the same state were 
necessarily given to the same pair of candidates. It 
Electors was customary in many states to choose the 

choTeSYn electors by districts. A state entitled to ten 

bydistrfcYs 8 ; electors would choose eight of them in its 
on'a general eight congressional districts, and there were 
various ways of choosing the other two. In 
some of the districts one party would have a majority, 
in others the other, and so the electoral vote of the 
state would be divided between two pairs of can¬ 
didates. After 1830 it became customary to choose 
the electors upon a general ticket, and thus the elec¬ 
toral vote became solid in each state. 1 

This system, of course, increases the chances of 
electing presidents who have received a minority of 
Minority the popular vote. A candidate may carry 
presidents. one s £ a te by an immense majority and thus 
gain 6 or 8 electoral votes; he may come within a 
few hundred of carrying another state and thus lose 
36 electoral votes. Or a small third party may divert 
some thousands of votes from the principal candidate 

1 In 1860 the vote of New Jersey was divided between Lin¬ 
coln and Douglas, but that was because the names of three ox 
the seven Douglas electors were upon iwo different tickets, and 
thus got a majority of votes while the other four fell short. In 
1892 the state of Michigan chose its electors by districts. 


THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE. 


231 


without affecting the electoral vote of the state. Since 
\\ ashington’s second term we have had twenty-five 
contested elections, 1 and in nine of these the elected 
president has failed to receive a majority of the popu 
lar vote ; Adams in 1824 (elected by the House of Rep¬ 
resentatives), Polk in 1844, Taylor in 1848, Buchanan 
in 1856, Lincoln in 1860, Hayes in 1876, Garfield in 
1880, Cleveland in 1884, Harrison in 1888. This 
has suggested more or less vague speculation as to the 
advisableness of changing the method of electing the 
president. It has been suggested that it would be 
well to abolish the electoral college, and resort to a 
direct popular vote, without reference to state lines. 
Such a method would be open to one serious objec¬ 
tion. In a closely contested election on the present 
method the result may remain doubtful for three or 
four days, while a narrow majority of a few A<Jvantages 
hundred votes in some great state is being electoral 
ascertained by careful counting. It was so system ‘ 
in 1884. This period of doubt is sure to be a period 
of intense and dangerous excitement. In an election 
without reference to states, the result would more 
often be doubtful, and it would be sometimes neces¬ 
sary to count every vote in every little out-of-the-way 
corner of the country before the question could be 
settled. The occasions for dispute w r ould be multi¬ 
plied a hundred fold, with most demoralizing effect. 
Our present method is doubtless clumsy, but the 
solidity of the electoral colleges is a safeguard, and as 
all parties understand the system it is in the lcng run 
as fair for one as for another. 

The Constitution says nothing about the method of 
nominating candidates for the presidency, neither has 

1 All have been contested, except Monroe's reelection in 1820, 
when there was no opposing candidate. 


232 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


it been made the subject of legislation. It has been 
determined by convenience. It was not necessary to 
nominate Washington, and the candidacies of Adams 
and Jefferson were also matters of general under¬ 
standing. In 1800 the Republican and Federalist 
members of Congress respectively held secret meet- 
Nomination ings or caucuses, chiefly for the purpose of 
by C congres- es agreeing upon candidates for the vice-presi- 
clStisooi” dency and making some plans for the can- 
24) * vass. It became customary to nominate 

candidates in such congressional caucuses, but there 
was much hostile comment upon the system as un¬ 
democratic. Sometimes the “ favourite son ” of a state 
was nominated by the legislature, but as the means 
of travel improved, the nominating convention came 
to be preferred. In 1824 there were four candidates 
for the presidency, — Adams, Jackson, Clay, and 
Crawford. Adams was nominated by the legislatures 
of most of the New England states; Clay by the legis¬ 
lature of Kentucky, followed by the legislatures of 
Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, and Louisiana; Crawford by 
the legislature of Virginia ; and Jackson by a mass 
convention of the people of Blount County in Tennes^ 
see, followed by local conventions in many other states. 
The congressional caucus met and nominated Crawford, 
but this indorsement did not help him, 1 and this method 
was no longer tried. In 1832 for the first time the 
candidates were all nominated in national conventions. 

These conventions, as fully developed, are represen- 
Nominating tative bodies chosen for the specific purpose 
conventions. 0 £ nom i na ti D g candidates and making those 
declarations of principle and policy known as “ plat¬ 
forms.” Each state is allowed twice as many dele¬ 
gates as it has electoral votes. “ The delegates are 
1 Stanwood, History of Presidential Elections , pp. 80-83. 


THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE. 


238 


chosen by local conventions in their several states, 
viz., two for each congressional district by the party 
convention of that district, and four for the whole 
state (called delegates-at-large) by the state conven¬ 
tion. As each convention is composed off delegates 
from primaries, it is the composition of the primaries 
which determines that of the local conventions, and it 
is the composition of the local conventions which de¬ 
termines that of the national.” 1 The 44 primary ” is 
the smallest nominating convention. It stands in 
somewhat the same relation to the national conven¬ 
tion as the relation of a township or ward to The « pri . 
the whole United States. A primary is a mary *” 
little caucus of all the voters of one party who live 
within the bounds of the township or ward. It differs 
in composition from the town-meeting in that all its 
members belong to one party. It has two duties: one 
is to nominate candidates for the local offices of the 
township or ward ; the other is to choose delegates to 
the county or district convention. The primary, as 
its name indicates, is a primary and not a representa¬ 
tive assembly. The party voters in a township or 
ward are usually not too numerous to meet together, 
and all ought to attend such meetings, though in prac¬ 
tice too many people stay away. By the representa¬ 
tive system, through various grades of convention, the 
wishes and character of these countless little primaries 
are at length expressed in the wishes and character of 
the national party convention, and candidates for the 
presidency and vice-presidency are nominated. 

The qualifications for the two offices are of course 
the same. Foreign-born citizens are not Qual . flca _ 
eligible, though this restriction did not in- ^° Q ”? d f e ° n r c ^ he 
elude such as were citizens of the United 

1 Bryce, American Commonwealth , vol. ii. p. 145 ; see also p. 52. 


234 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


States at the time when the Constitution was adopted. 
The candidate must have reached the age of thirty- 
five, and must have been fourteen years a resident of 
the United States. 

The president’s term of office is four years. The 
Constitution says nothing about his reelection, and 
The term of there is no written law to prevent his being 
office. reelected a dozen times. But Washington, 
after serving two terms, refused to accept the office a 
third time. Jefferson in 1808 was “earnestly be 
sought by many and influential bodies of citizens to 
become a candidate for a third term ; ” 3 and had he 
consented there is scarcely a doubt that he would have 
been elected. His refusal established a custom which 
has never been infringed, though there were persQns 
in 1876 and again in 1880 who wished to secure a 
third term for Grant. 

The president is commander-in-chief of the military 
and naval forces of the United States, and 

Powers and . . . 1 

duties of^the oi the militia ot the several states when 
actually engaged in the service of the United 
States; and he has the royal prerogative of granting 
reprieves and pardons for offences against the United 
States, except in cases of impeachment. 2 

He can make treaties with foreign powers, but they 
must be confirmed by a two thirds vote of the Senate. 
He appoints ministers to foreign countries, consuls, 
and the greater federal officers, such as the heads of 
executive departments and judges of the Supreme 
Court, and all these appointments are subject to con¬ 
firmation by the Senate. He also appoints a vast 
number of inferior officers, such as postmasters and 
revenue collectors, without the participation of the 
Senate. When vacancies occur during the recess of 

1 Morse’s Jefferson, p. 318, 2 See above, p. 221. 



THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE. 


235 


the Senate, he may fill them by granting commissions 
to expire at the end of the next session. He commis¬ 
sions all federal officers. He receives foreign min¬ 
isters. He may summon either or both houses of 
Congress to an extra session, and if the two houses 
disagree with regard to the time of adjournment, he 
may adjourn them to such time as he thinks best, but 
of course not beyond the day fixed for the beginning 
of the next regular session. 

The president must from time to time make a report 
to Congress on the state of affairs in the country and 
suggest such a line of policy or such special measures 
as may seem good to him. This report has p 
taken the form of an annual written mes- dent’s mes¬ 
sage. Washington and Adams began their Bage * 
administrations by addressing Congress in a speech, 
to which Congress replied ; but it suited the opposite 
party to discover in this an imitation of the British 
practice of opening Parliament with a speech from 
the sovereign. It was accordingly stigmatized as 
“monarchical,” and Jefferson (though without for¬ 
mally alleging any such reason) set the example, 
which has been followed ever since, of addressing 
Congress in a written message. 1 Besides this annual 
message, the president may at any time send in a 
special message relating to matters which in his opin¬ 
ion require immediate attention. 

The effectiveness of a president’s message depends 
of course on the character of the president and the 
general features of the political situation. That 
separation between the executive and legislative de¬ 
partments, which is one of the most distinctive fea¬ 
tures of civil government in the United States, tends 
to prevent the development of leadership. An Eng- 
1 Jefferson, moreover, was a powerful writer and a poor speaker. 


236 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


lish prime minister’s policy, so long as he remains in 
office, must be that of the House of Commons; power 
and responsibility are concentrated. An able presi¬ 
dent may virtually direct the policy of his party in 
Congress, but he often has a majority against him in 
one house and sometimes in both at once. Thus in 
dividing power we divide and weaken responsibility. 
To this point I have already alluded as illustrated in 
our state governments. 1 

The Constitution made no specific provisions for 
the creation of executive departments, but left the 
Executive matter to Congress. At the beginning of 
departments. Washington’s administration three secreta¬ 
ryships were created, — those of state, treasury, and 
war; and an attorney-general was appointed. After¬ 
ward the department of the navy was separated from 
that of war, the postmaster-general was made a mem¬ 
ber of the administration, and as lately as 1849 the 
department of the interior was organized. The heads 
of these departments are the president’s advisers, but 
they have as a body no recognized legal existence or 
authority. They hold their meetings in a room at the 
president’s executive mansion, the White House, but 
no record is kept of their proceedings and the presi¬ 
dent is not bound to heed their advice. This body 
has always been called the “ Cabinet,” after the Eng¬ 
lish usage. It is like the English cabinet in being 

composed of heads of executive departments 

The cabinet. r . 1 

and in being, as a body, unknown to the 
law; in other respects the difference is very great. 
The English cabinet is the executive committee of 
the House of Commons, and exercises a guiding and 

1 The English method, however, would probably not work well 
in this country, and might prove to be a source of great and 
complicated dangers. See above, p. 169. 


THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE. 


287 


directing influence upon legislation. The position of 
the president is not at all like that of the prime min¬ 
ister ; it is more like that of the English sovereign, 
though the latter has not nearly so much power as the 
president; and the American cabinet in some respects 
resembles the English privy council, though it cannot 
make ordinances. 

The secretary of state ranks first among our cab¬ 
inet officers. He is often called our prime minister 
or “ premier,” but there could not be a more absurd 
use of language. In order to make an American per¬ 
sonage corresponding to the English prime minister 
we must first go to the House of liepresentatives, take 
its committee of ways and means and its 

* • jjjg secre* 

committee on appropriations, and unite them tary of 
into one committee of finance; then we must 
take the chairman of this committee, give him the 
power of dissolving the House and ordering a new 
election, and make him master of all the executive 
departments, while at the same time we strip from the 
president all real control over the administration. 
This exalted finance-chairman would be much like the 
First Lord of the Treasury, commonly called the 
prime minister. This illustration shows how wide the 
divergence has become between our system and that 
of Great Britain. 

Our secretary of state is our minister of foreign 
affairs, and is the only officer who is authorized to 
communicate with other governments in the name of 
the president. He is at the head of the diplomatic 
and consular service, issuing the instructions to our 
ministers abroad, and he takes a leading part in the 
negotiation of treaties. To these ministerial duties 
he adds some that are more characteristic of his title 
of secretary. He keeps the national archives, and 


238 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


superintends the publication of laws, treaties, and 
proclamations ; and he is the keeper of the great seal 
of the United States. 

Our foreign relations are cared for in foreign coun¬ 
tries by two distinct classes of officials: ministers and 
consuls. The former represent the United States gov¬ 
ernment in a diplomatic capacity; the latter have 
nothing to do with diplomacy or politics, but look 
after our commercial interests in foreign 
and consular countries. Consuls exercise a protective 
care over seamen, and perform various duties 
for Americans abroad. They can take testimony and 
administer estates. In some non-Christian countries, 
such as China, Japan, and Turkey, they have juris¬ 
diction over criminal cases in which Americans are 
concerned. Formerly our ministers abroad were of only 
three grades : (1) “ envoys extraordinary and min¬ 
isters plenipotentiary ; ” (2) “ ministers resident; ” 
(3) charges d'affaires. The first two are accredited 
by the president to the head of government of the 
countries to which they are sent; the third are accred¬ 
ited by the secretary of state to the minister of foreign 
affairs in the countries to which they are sent. We 
still retain these grades, which correspond to the 
lower grades of the diplomatic service in European 
countries. Until lately we had no highest grade 
answering to that of “ ambassador,” perhaps because 
when our diplomatic service was organized the 
United States did not yet rank among first-rate 
powers, and could not expect to receive ambassadors. 
Great powers, like France and Germany, send ambas¬ 
sadors to each other, and envoys to inferior powers, 
like Denmark or Greece or Guatemala. When we 
send envoys to the great powers, we rank ourselves 
along with inferior powers ; and diplomatic etiquette 
as a rule obliges the great powers to send to us the 


THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE . 


239 


same grade of minister that we send to them. There 
were found to be some practical inconveniences about 
this, so that in 1892 the highest grade was adopted 
and our ministers to Great Britain and France were 
made ambassadors. 

The cabinet officer second in rank and in some 
respects first in importance is the secretary of the treas¬ 
ury. He conducts the financial business of the gov¬ 
ernment, superintends the collection of reve¬ 
nue, and gives warrants for the payment of Sy oTtte 
moneys from the treasury. He also super in- treasury ‘ 
tends the coinage, the national banks, the custom¬ 
houses, the coast-survey and lighthouse system, the 
marine hospitals, and life-saving service. 1 He sends 
reports to Congress, and suggests such measures as 
seem good to him. Since the Civil War his most 
weighty business has been the management of the 
national debt. He is aided by two assistant secreta¬ 
ries, six auditors, a register, a comptroller, a solicitor, 
a director of the mint, commissioner of internal rev¬ 
enue, chiefs of the bureau of statistics and bureau of 
engraving and printing, etc. The business of the 
treasury department is enormous, and no part of our 
government has been more faithfully administered. 
Since 1789 the treasury has disbursed more than seven 
billions of dollars without one serious defalcation. 
No man directly interested in trade or commerce can 
be appointed secretary of the treasury, and the de¬ 
partment has almost always been managed by “ men 
of small incomes bred either to politics or the legal 
profession.” 2 

1 Many of these details concerning the executive departments 
are admirably summarized, and with more fullness than com¬ 
ports with the design of the present work, in Thorpe’s Govern¬ 
ment of the People of the United States , pp. 183-193. 

2 Schouler, Hist, of the U. S vol. i. p. 95. 


240 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


The war and navy departments need no special 
description here. The former is divided into ten and 
war and the latter into eight bureaus. The naval 
n av y. department, among many duties, has charge 
of the naval observatory at Washington and publishes 
the nautical almanac. 

The department of the interior conducts a vast and 
various business, as is shown by the designations of 
its eight bureaus, which deal with public 
lands, Indian affairs, pensions, patents, 
education (chiefly in the way of gathering statistics 
and reporting upon school affairs), agriculture, public 
documents, and the census. In 1889 the bureau of 
agriculture was organized as a separate department. 
The weather bureau forms a branch of the depart¬ 
ment of agriculture. 

The departments of the postmaster-general and 
attorney-general need no special description. The 
postmaster- latter was organized in 1870 into the depart- 
attor r ni y - nd ment of justice. The attorney-general is the 
general. president’s legal adviser, and represents the 
United States in all law-suits to which the United 
States is a party. He is aided by a solicitor-gen¬ 
eral and other subordinate offices. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

1. Speak (1) of the president’s share in legislation, (2) of his 

relation to the executive department, and (3) of the origin 
of his title. 

2. The electoral college : — 

a. The method of electing the president a perplexing ques¬ 

tion. 

b. The constitution of the electoral college, with illustrations. 

c. Qualifications for serving as an elector. 

d. The method of choosing electors. 

«. The time of choosing electors. 

f When and where the electors vote. 

g. The number and disposition of the certificates of theii 


THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE. 


241 


k. The declaration of the result. 

3 . What was the method of voting in the electoral college be¬ 

fore 1804? Illustrate the working of this method in 
1796 and 1800. 

4 . The amendment of 1804 : — 

a. The ballots of the electors. 

b. The duty of the House if no candidate for the presidency 

receives a majority of the electoral votes. 

c. The duty of the Senate if no candidate for the vice-pres¬ 

idency receives a majority of the electoral votes. 

d. Illustrations of the working of this amendment in 1825 

and 1837. 

5 The electoral commission of 1877 : — 

a. A difficulty not foreseen. 

b. Conflicting returns in 1877. 

c. The plan of arbitration adopted. 

6 . The presidential succession : — 

a. The office of vice-president. 

b. The act of 1791. 

c. The possibility of a lapse of the presidency. 

d. The possibility of an unfair political overthrow. 

e. The act of 1886. 

7 . Compare the original purpose of the electoral college with 

the fulfillment of that purpose. 

8 . Explain the transition from a divided electoral vote in a state 

to a solid electoral vote. 

9 . Show how a minority of the people may elect a president. 

Who have been elected by minorities ? 

10 . What is the advantage of the electoral system over a direct 

popular vote ? 

11 . Methods of nominating candidates for the presidency and 

vice-presidency before 1832 : — 

a. The absence of constitutional and legislative requirements. 

b. Presidents not nominated. 

c. Nominations by congressional caucuses. 

d. Nominations by state legislatures. 

e. Nominations by local conventions. 

12 . Nominations by national conventions in 1832 and since : — 

a. The nature of a national convention. 

b. The platform. 

c. The number of delegates from a state, and their elec¬ 

tion. 


242 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


d. The relation of the “ primaries ” to district, state, and 
national conventions. 

e. The nature of the primary. 

f. Its two duties. 

g. The duty of the voter to attend the primaries. 

13 . The presidency : — 

a. Qualifications for the office. 

b. The term of office. 

14 . Powers and duties of the president: — 

a. As a commander-in-chief. 

b. In respect to reprieves and pardons. 

c. In respect to treaties with foreign powers. 

d. In respect to the appointment of federal officers. 

e. In respect to summoning and adjourning Congress. 

f. In respect to reporting the state of affairs in the country 

to Congress. 

15 . The president’s message : — 

a. The course of Washington and Adams. 

b. The example of Jefferson. 

c. The effectiveness of the message. 

d. Power and responsibility in the English system. 

e. Power and responsibility in the American system. 

16 . Executive departments : — 

a. The departments under Washington. 

b. Later additions to the departments. 

c. The “ Cabinet.” 

d. The resemblance between the English cabinet and our 

own. 

e. The difference between the English cabinet and our own. 

17 . The secretary of state : — 

a. Is he a prime minister ? 

b. What would be necessary to make an American personage 

correspond to an English prime minister ? 

c. What are the ministerial duties of the secretary of state ? 

d. What other duties has he more characteristic of his title ? 

18 . Our diplomatic and consular service : — 

a. The distinction between ministers and consuls. 

b. Three grades of ministers. 

c. The persons to whom the three grades are accredited. 

d. The grade of ambassador. 

19 . The secretary of the treasury: — 
a. His rank and importance. 


THE NATION AND THE STATES. 243 


b. His various duties. 

c. His chief assistants. 

d. The administration of the treasury department since 1789. 
20. The duties of the remaining cabinet officers : — 

a. Of the secretary of war. 

b. Of the secretary of the navy. 

c. Of the secretary of the interior. 

d. Of the postmaster-general. 

e. Of the attorney-general. 

§ 4. The Nation and the States . 

We have left our Federal Convention sitting a good 
wliiie at Philadelphia, while we have thus undertaken 
to give a coherent account of our national executive 
organization, which has in great part grown up since 
1789 with the growth of the nation. Observe how 
wisely the Constitution confines itself to a clear sketch 
of fundamentals, and leaves as much as possible to 
be developed by circumstances. In this feature lies 
partly the flexible strength, the adaptableness, of our 
Federal Constitution. That strength lies partly also 
in the excellent partition of powers between the fed¬ 
eral government and the several states. 

We have already remarked upon the vastness of 
the functions retained by the states. At the same 
time the powers granted to Congress have proved 
sufficient to bind the states together into a union that 
is more than a mere confederation. From 

, . Difference 

1776 to 1789 the United States were a con- betweencon- 

, . _ federation 

federation: after 1789 it was a federal na- and federal 

union. 

tion. The passage from plural to singular 
was accomplished, although it took some people a 
good while to realize the fact. The German language 
has a neat way of distinguishing between a loose con¬ 
federation and a federal union. It calls the former a 
Staatenhund and the latter a Bundesstaat . So in 


244 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


English, if we liked, we might call the confederation 
a Band-of-States and the federal union a Banded- 
State. There are two points especially in our Con¬ 
stitution which transformed our country from a Band- 
of-States into a Banded-State. 

The first was the creation of a federal House of 
Representatives, thus securing for Congress the power 
“ to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, 
to pay the debts and provide for the common welfare 
powers United States.” Other powers are 

granted to naturally attached to this, — such as the 

Congress. ^ t e i 

power to borrow money on the credit ot the 
United States ; to regulate foreign and domestic com¬ 
merce ; to coin money and fix the standard of weights 
and measures; to provide for the punishment of 
counterfeiters; to establish post-offices and post-roads; 
to issue copyrights and patents; to “ define and pun¬ 
ish felonies committed on the high seas, and offences 
against the law of nations; to declare war, grant let¬ 
ters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concern¬ 
ing captures on land and water; ” to raise and sup¬ 
port an army and navy, and to make rules for the 
regulation of the land and naval forces; to provide for 
calling out the militia to suppress insurrections and 
repel invasions, and to command this militia while 
actually employed in the service of the United States. 
The several states, however, train their own militia 
and appoint the officers. Congress may also establish 
a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on 
the subject of bankruptcies. It also exercises exclu¬ 
sive control over the District of Columbia, 1 as the 
seat of the national government, and over forts, maga¬ 
zines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful build¬ 
ings, which it erects within the several states upon 

1 Cede I to the United States by Maryland and Virginia. 


THE NATION AND THE STATES. 245 


land purchased for such purposes with the consent of 
the state legislature. 

Congress is also empowered “ to make all laws 
which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into 
execution the foregoing powers and all other powers 
vested by this Constitution in the govern- The «‘Elastic 
ment of the United States, or in any depart- Clause -” 
ment or office thereof.” This may be called the 
Elastic Clause of the Constitution; it has undergone 
a good deal of stretching for one purpose and another, 
and, as we shall presently see, it was a profound dis¬ 
agreement in the interpretation of this clause that 
after 1789 divided the American people into two great 
political parties. 

The national authority of Congress is further 
sharply defined by the express denial of sundry pow¬ 
ers to the several states. These we have al- „ 

, Powers de- 

readv enumerated. 1 There was an especial to the 

J ... states. 

reason for prohibiting the states from issu¬ 
ing bills of credit, or making anything but gold and 
silver coin a tender in payment of debts. During the 
years 1785 and 1786 a paper money craze ran through 
the country; most of the states issued paper notes, 
and passed laws obliging their citizens to receive them 
in payment of debts. Now a paper dollar is not 
money, it is only the government’s promise to pay a 
dollar. As long as you can send it to the treasury 
and get a gold dollar in exchange, it is worth a dollar. 
It is this exchangeableness that makes it p apercur . 
worth a dollar. When government makes reucy * 
the paper dollar note a “ legal tender,” L e., when it 
refuses to give you the gold dollar and makes you 
take its note instead, the note soon ceases to be w T orth 
a dollar. You would rather have the gold than the 
1 See above, p. 175. 


246 


THE FEDERAL UNlOE. 


note, for the mere fact that government refuses to give 
the gold shows that it is in financial difficulties. So 
the note’s value is sure to fall, and if the government 
is in serious difficulty, it falls very far, and as it falls 
it takes more of it to buy things. Prices go up. There 
was a time (1864) during our Civil War when a pa¬ 
per dollar was worth only forty cents and a barrel of 
flour cost $23. But that was nothing to the year 
1780, when the paper dollar issued by the Continental 
Congress was worth only a mill, and flour was sold in 
Boston for $1,575 a barrel! When the different 
states tried to make paper money, it made confusion 
worse confounded, for the states refused to take each 
other’s money, and this helped to lower its value. In 
some states the value of the paper dollar fell in less 
than a year to twelve or fifteen cents. At such times 
there is always great demoralization and suffering, 
especially among the poorer people ; and with all the 
experience of the past to teach us, it may now be held 
to be little less than a criminal act for a government, 
under any circumstances, to make its paper notes a 
legal tender. The excuse for the Continental Con¬ 
gress was that it was not completely a government 
and seemed to have no alternative, but there is no 
doubt that the paper currency damaged the country 
much more than the arms of the enemy by land or 
sea. The feeling was so strong about it in the 
Federal Convention that the prohibition came near 
being extended to the national government, but the 
question was unfortunately left undecided. 1 

Some express prohibitions were laid upon the 
national government. Duties may be laid upon im¬ 
ports but not upon exports; this wise restriction was 

1 See my Critical Period of American History , pp. 168-186, 
273-276. 


THE NATION AND THE STATES . 247 


a special concession to South Carolina, which feared 
the effect of an export duty upon rice and 

. t T-i , . r . Powers de- 

mdigo. Duties and excises must be uni- to con¬ 
form throughout the country, and no com¬ 
mercial preference can be shown to one state over 
another; absolute free trade is the rule between the 
states. A census must be taken every ten years in 
order to adjust the representation, and no direct tax 
can be imposed except according to the census. No 
money can be drawn from the treasury except “ in 
consequence of appropriations made by law,” and 
accounts must be regularly kept and published. The 
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus cannot be sus¬ 
pended except “ when, in case of rebellion or invasion, 
the public safety may require it; ” and “ no bill of at¬ 
tainder, or ex post facto law,” can be passed. A bill 
of attainder is a special legislative act by Bills of at , 
which a person may be condemned to death, tamder - 
or to outlawry and banishment, without the opportu¬ 
nity of defending himself which he would have in a 
court of law. “ No evidence is necessarily adduced to 
support it,” 1 and in former times, especially in the 
reign of Henry VIII., it was a formidable engine for 
perpetrating judicial murders. Bills of attainder long 
ago ceased to be employed in England, and the pro¬ 
cess was abolished by statute in 1870. 

No title of nobility can be granted by the United 
States, and no federal officer can accept a present, 
office, or title from a foreign state without the consent 
of Congress. “No religious test shall ever be re¬ 
quired as a qualification to any office or public trust 
under the United States.” Full faith and credit 
must be given in each state to the public acts and 
records, and to the judicial proceedings of every other 
1 Taswell-Langmead, English Constitutional History t p. 385. 


248 THE FEDERAL UNION. 

state; and it is left for Congress to determine the 
intercitizen- manner in which such acts and proceedings 
^p* shall be proved or certified. The citizens of 
each state are “ entitled to all privileges and immuni¬ 
ties of citizens in the several states.” There is mutual 
extradition of criminals, and, as a concession to the 
southern states it was provided that fugitive slaves 
should be surrendered to their masters. The United 
States guarantees to every state a republican form of 
government, it protects each state against invasion; 
and on application from the legislature of a state, or 
from the executive when the legislature cannot be 
convened, it lends a hand in suppressing insurrection. 

Amendments to the Constitution may at any time 
be proposed in pursuance of a two thirds vote in both 
houses of Congress, or by a convention called at the 
request of the legislatures of two thirds of the states. 
Mode of The amendments are not in force until rati- 
fied by three fourths of the states, either 
ments. through their legislatures or through special 
conventions, according to the preference of Congress. 
This makes it difficult to change the Constitution, as 
it ought to be ; but it leaves it possible to introduce 
changes that are very obviously desirable. The 
Articles of Confederation could not be amended ex¬ 
cept by a unanimous vote of the states, and this made 
their amendment almost impossible. 

After assuming all debts contracted and engage¬ 
ments made by the United States before its adoption, 
the Constitution goes on to declare itself the supreme 
law of the land. By it, and by the laws and treaties 
made under it, the judges in every state are bound, 
in spite of anything contrary in the constitution or 
laws of any state. 


THE NATION AND THE STATES. 249 


QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

1. In wliat two features of the Constitution does its strength 

largely lie ? 

2 . Distinguish between the United States as a confederation 

and the United States as a federal union. How does the 
German language bring out the distinction ? 

3 . What was the first important factor in transforming our 

country from a Band-of-States to a Banded-State ? 

4 . The powers granted to Congress : — 

a. Over taxes, money, and commerce. 

b. Over postal affairs, and the rights of inventors and au¬ 

thors. 

c. Over certain crimes. 

d. Over war and military matters. 

e. Over naturalization and bankruptcy. 

f. Over the District of Columbia and other places. 

g. The “ elastic clause ” and its interpretation. 

5 . The powers denied to the states : — 

a. An enumeration of these powers (p. 175). 

b. The prohibition of bills of credit, in particular. 

c. The paper money craze of 1785 and 1786. 

d. Paper money as a “ legal tender.” 

e. The depreciation of paper money during the Civil War. 

f. The depreciation of the Continental currency in 1780. 

g. The demoralization caused by the states making paper 

money. 

h. The lesson of experience. 

6 . Prohibitions upon the national government: — 

a. The imposition of duties and taxes. 

b. The payment of money. 

c. The writ of habeas corpus. 

d. Ex post facto laws. 

e. Bills of attainder. 

f. Titles and presents. 

7 . Duties of the states to one another : — 

a. In respect to public acts and records, and judicial pro¬ 

ceedings. 

b. In respect to the privileges of citizens. 

c. In respect to fugitives from justice. 

8 . What is the duty of the United States to every state in 

respect (1) to form of government, (2) invasion, and (3) 
insurrection ? 


250 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


9 . Amendments to the Constitution : — 

a. Two methods of proposing amendments. 

b. Two methods of ratifying amendments. 

c. The difficulty of making amendments. 

d. Amendment of the Articles of Confederation. 

10 . What is meant by the Constitution’s declaring itself the 

supreme law of the laud ? 

§ 5. The Federal Judiciary . 

The creation of a federal judiciary was the second 
principal feature in the Constitution, which trans¬ 
formed our country from a loose confederation into a 
federal nation, from a Band-of-States into a Banded- 
State. We have seen that the American people were 
already somewhat familiar with the method of testing 
Need for a ^he cons titutionality of a law by getting the 
federal judi- matter brought before the courts . 1 In the 
case of a conflict between state law and 
federal law, the only practicable peaceful solution is 
that which is reached through a judicial decision. 
The federal authority also needs the machinery of 
courts in order to enforce its own decrees. 

The federal judiciary consists of a supreme court, 
circuit courts, and district courts . 2 At present the 
supreme court consists of a chief justice and eight 
associate justices. It holds annual sessions in the city 
of Washington, beginning on the second Monday of 
Federal October. Each of these nine judges is also 
judges and jndge of a circuit court. The area 

of the United States, not including the terri¬ 
tories, is divided into nine circuits, and in each circuit 
the presiding judge is assisted by special circuit judges. 
The circuits are divided into districts, seventy-two in all, 
and in each of these there is a special district judge. 
The districts never cross state lines. Sometimes a 
1 See above, p. 194. 2 See the second note on p. 278. 


THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY . 


251 


state is one district, but populous states with much 
business are divided into two or even three districts. 
“ The circuit courts sit in the several districts of each 
circuit successively, and the law requires that each jus¬ 
tice of the supreme court shall sit in each district of 
his circuit at least once every two years.” 1 District 
judges are not confined to their own districts; they 
may upon occasion exchange districts as ministers ex¬ 
change pulpits. A district judge may, if need be, act 
as a circuit judge, as a major may command a regi¬ 
ment. All federal judges are appointed by the presi¬ 
dent, with the consent of the Senate, to serve during 
good behaviour. Each district has its district attor¬ 
ney , whose business is to prosecute offenders _ 
agamst the federal laws and to conduct civil torneys and 

< - 7 _ marshals. 

cases in which the national government is 
either plaintiff or defendant. Each district has also 
its marshal , who has the same functions under the 
federal court as the sheriff under the state court. The 
procedure of the federal court usually follows that of 
the courts of the state in which it is sitting. 

The federal jurisdiction covers two classes of cases: 
(1) those which come before it “ because of the nature 
of the questions involved: for instance, admiralty and 
maritime cases, navigable waters being within the 
exclusive jurisdiction of the federal author- The fe derai 
ities, and cases arising out of the Constitu- i urisdlctlon * 
tion, laws, or treaties of the United States or out of 
conflicting grants made by different states ” ; (2) those 
which come before it “ because of the nature of the 
parties to the suit,” such as cases affecting the min¬ 
isters of foreign powers or suits between citizens of 
different states. 

1 See Wilson, The State, p. 554. I have closely followed, 
though with much abridgment, the excellent description of our 
federal judiciary, pp. 555-561. 


252 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


The division of jurisdiction between the upper and 
lower federal courts is determined chiefly by the size 
and importance of the cases. In cases where a state 
or a foreign minister is a party the supreme court has 
original jurisdiction, in other cases it has appellate 
jurisdiction, and “ any case which involves the inter¬ 
pretation of the Constitution can be taken to the su¬ 
preme court, however small the sum in dispute. ,, If a 
law of any state or of the United States is decided 
by the supreme court to be in violation of the Consti¬ 
tution, it instantly becomes void and of no effect. 
In this supreme exercise of jurisdiction, our highest 
federal tribunal is unlike any other tribunal known 
to history. The supreme court is the most original of 
all American institutions. It is peculiarly American, 
and for its exalted character and priceless services it is 
an institution of which Americans may well be proud. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

1. What was the second important factor (see p. 244 for the 

first) in transforming our country from a Band-of-States 
to a Banded-State ? 

2 . Why was a federal judiciary deemed necessary ? 

3 . The organization of the federal judiciary : — 

a. The supreme court and its sessions. 

b. The circuit courts. 

c. The district courts. 

d. Exchanges of service. 

e. Appointment of judges. 

f. The United States district attorney. 

g. The United States marshal. 

4 . The jurisdiction of the federal courts : — 

a. Cases because of the nature of the questions involved. 

b . Cases because of the nature of the parties to the suit. 

Co The division of jurisdiction between the upper and the 
lower courts. 

d. Wherein the supreme court is the most original of Amer¬ 
ican institutions. 


TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT. 


253 


§ 6. Territorial Government . 

The Constitution provided for the admission of new 
states to the Union, but it does not allow a state to 
be formed within another state. A state cannot “ be 
formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts 
of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the 
states concerned as well as of the Congress.” Shortly 
before the making of the Constitution, the United 
States had been endowed for the first time 
with a public domain. The territory north- west Terri- 
west of the Ohio River had been claimed, on tor) 
the strength of old grants and charters, by Massachu¬ 
setts, Connecticut, New York, and Virginia. In 1777 
Maryland refused to sign the Articles of Confedera¬ 
tion until these states should agree to cede their claims 
to the United States, and thus in 1784 the federal 
government came into possession of a magnificent ter¬ 
ritory, out of which five great states — Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin — have since been 
made. While the Federal Convention was sitting at 
Philadelphia, the Continental Congress at New York 
was doing almost its last and one of its greatest pieces 
of work in framing the Ordinance of 1787 for the 
organization and government of this newly acquired 
territory. - The ordinance created a territo- 

, J The Ordi¬ 

nal government with governor and two- nwweof 

chambered legislature, courts, magistrates, 
and militia. Complete civil and religious liberty was 
guaranteed, negro slavery was prohibited, and pro¬ 
vision was made for free schools. 1 

In 1803 the enormous territory known as Louisiana, 
comprising everything (except Texas) between the 

1 The manner in which provision should be made for these 
schools had been pointed out two years before in the land-ordi¬ 
nance of 1785, as heretofore explained. See above, p. 86. 


254 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


Mississippi River and the crest of the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains, was purchased from France. A claim upon the 
Oregon territory was soon afterward made by discov¬ 
ery and exploration, and finally settled in 1846 by 
treaty with Great Britain. In 1848 by conquest and 
in 1853 by purchase the remaining Pacific lands were 
acquired from Mexico. All of this vast region has 
been at some time under territorial government. As 
other tem- for Texas, on the other hand, it has never 
theh 8 gov- been a territory. Texas revolted from Mex- 
emment. i co \ n 1836 and remained an independent 
state until 1845, when it was admitted to the Union. 
Territorial government has generally passed through 
three stages: first, there are governors and judges 
appointed by the president; then as population in¬ 
creases, there is added a legislature chosen by the 
people and empowered to make laws subject to con¬ 
firmation by Congress; finally, entire legislative inde¬ 
pendence is granted. The territory is then ripe for 
admission to the Union as a state. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

1. What is the constitutional provision for admitting new 

states ? 

2 . What states claimed the territory northwest of the Ohio 

river ? On what did they base their claims ? 

3 . Why was this territory ceded to the general government ? 

4 . What states have since been made out of this territory ? 

5 . What was the Ordinance of 1787 ? 

6 . What were the principal provisions of this ordinance ? 

7 . Give an account of the Louisiana purchase ? 

8 . Give an account of the acquisition of the Oregon territory. 

9 . Give an account of the acquisition of the remaining Pacific 

lands. 

10 . How came Texas to belong to the United States ? 

11. How much of the public domain has been at some time 

under territorial government ? 

12 . Through what three stages has territorial government usually 

passed ? 


RATIFICATION AND AMENDMENTS. 255 


§ 7. Ratification and Amendments. 

Thus the work of the Ordinance of 1787 was in 
a certain sense supplementary to the work of framing 
the Constitution. When the latter instrument was 
completed, it was provided that “ the ratifications of 
the conventions of nine states shall be sufficient for 
the establishment of this Constitution between the 
states so ratifying the same.” The Constitution was 
then laid before the Continental Congress, which sub¬ 
mitted it to the states. In one state after another, 
conventions were held, and at length the Constitution 
was ratified. There was much opposition to it, because 
it seemed to create a strange and untried form of gov¬ 
ernment which might develop into a tyranny. There 
was a fear that the federal power might crush out self- 
government in the states. This dread was felt in all 
parts of the country. Besides this, there was some sec¬ 
tional opposition between North and South, 

, . , , . r. Concessions 

and in V lrgima there was a party m favour to the 
of a separate southern confederacy. But 
South Carolina and Georgia were won over by the con¬ 
cessions in the Constitution to slavery, and especially 
a provision that the importation of slaves from Africa 
should not be prohibited until 1808. By winning 
South Carolina and Georgia the formation of a “ solid 
South ” was prevented. 

The first states to adopt the Constitution were Dela¬ 
ware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Con¬ 
necticut, with slight opposition, except in Pennsylvania. 
Next came Massachusetts, where the convention was 
very large, the discussion very long, and the ^ ^ 
action in one sense critical. One chief Rights pro¬ 
source of dissatisfaction was the absence of 
a sufficiently explicit Bill of Rights, and to meet this 


256 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


difficulty, Massachusetts ratified the Constitution, but 
proposed amendments, and this course was followed 
by other states. Maryland and South Carolina came 
next, and New Hampshire made the ninth. Virginia 
and New York then ratified by very narrow majorities 
and after prolonged discussion. North Carolina did 
not come in until 1789, and Rhode Island not until 
1790. 

In September, 1789, the first ten amendments were 
proposed by Congress, and in December, 1791, they 
were declared in force. Their provisions are similar 
to those of the English Bill of Rights, enacted in 
11 1689, 1 but are much more full and explicit, 

amend- They provide for freedom of speech and of 
the press, the free exercise of religion, the 
right of the people to assemble and petition Congress 
for a redress of grievances, their right to bear arms, 
and to be secure against unreasonable searches and 
seizures. The quartering of soldiers is guarded, gen¬ 
eral search-warrants are prohibited, jury trial is guar¬ 
anteed, and the taking of private property for public 
use without due compensation, as well as excessive 
fines and bail and the infliction of “ cruel and unusual 
punishment” are forbidden. Congress is prohibited 
from establishing any form of religion. 

Finally, it is declared that “ the enumeration of cer¬ 
tain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage 
others retained by the people,” and that “ the powers 
not granted to the United States by the Constitution, 
nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the 
states respectively, or to the people.” 

1 See above, p. 190. This is further elucidated in Appen¬ 
dixes B and D. 


A FEW WORDS ABOUT POLITICS. 257 


QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

1. What provision did the Constitution make for its own ratifi¬ 

cation ? 

2 . What was the general method of ratification in the states ? 

3 . On what general grounds did the opposition to the Constitu¬ 

tion seem to he based ? 

4 . By what feature in the Constitution was the support of South 

Carolina and Georgia assured ? Why was this support 

deemed peculiarly desirable ? 

5 . What five states ratified the Constitution with little or no 

opposition ? 

6 . What was the objection of Massachusetts and some other 

states to the Constitution ? What course, therefore, did 

they adopt ? 

7 . What three states after Massachusetts by their ratification 

made the adoption of the Constitution secure ? 

8 . What four states subsequently gave in their support ? 

9 . Give an account of the adoption of the first ten amend¬ 

ments. 

10 . For what do these amendments provide ? 

11 . What powers are reserved to the states ? 

§ 8 . A Few Words about Politics . 

A chief source of the opposition to the new federal 
government was the dread of federal taxation. People 
who found it hard to pay their town, county, Fede rai 
and state taxes felt that it would be ruinous taxatl0n - 
to have to pay still another kind of tax. In the mere 
fact of federal taxation, therefore, they were inclined 
to see tyranny. With people in such a mood it was 
necessary to proceed cautiously in devising measures 
of federal taxation. 

This was well understood by our first secretary of 
the treasury, Alexander Hamilton, and in the course 
of his administration of the treasury he was once 
roughly reminded of it. The two methods of federal 
taxation adopted at his suggestion were duties on im¬ 
ports and excise on a few domestic products, such as 


258 THE FEDERAL UNION. 

whiskey and tobacco. The excise, being a tax which 
people could see and feel, was very unpopu¬ 
lar, and in 1794 the opposition to it in 
western Pennsylvania grew into the famous “ Whiskey 
Insurrection,” against which President Washington 
thought it prudent to send an army of 16,000 men. 
This formidable display of federal power suppressed 
the insurrection without bloodshed. 

Nowhere was there any such violent opposition to 
Hamilton’s scheme of custom-house duties on imported 
goods. People had always been familiar with such 
duties. In the colonial times they had been levied by 
the British government without calling forth 

Tariff. 0 ° 

resistance until Charles Townshend made 
them the vehicle of a dangerous attack upon American 
self-government. 1 After the Declaration of Indepen¬ 
dence, custom-house duties were levied by the state 
governments and the proceeds were paid into the 
treasuries of the several states. Before 1789, much 
trouble had arisen from oppressive tariff-laws enacted 
by some of the states against others. By taking away 
from the states the power of taxing imports, the new 
Constitution removed this source of irritation. It 
became possible to lighten the burden of custom-house 
duties, while by turning the full stream of them into 
the federal treasury an abundant national revenue was 
secured at once. Thus this part of Hamilton’s policy 
met with general approval. The tariff has always 
been our favourite device for obtaining a national 
revenue. During our Civil War, indeed, the national 
government resorted extensively to direct taxation, 
chiefly in the form of revenue stamps, though it also 
put a tax upon billiard-tables, pianos, gold watches, 
and all sorts of things. But after the return of peace 

1 See my War of Independence , pp. 58-83 ; and my History of the 
United States , for Schools , pp. 192-203. 


A FEW WORDS ABOUT POLITICS. 259 

these unusual taxes were one after another discon¬ 
tinued, and since then our national revenue has been 
raised, as in Hamilton’s time, from duties on imports 
and excise on a few domestic products, chiefly tobacco 
and distilled liquors. 

Hamilton’s measures as secretary of the treasury 
embodied an entire system of public policy, and the 
opposition to them resulted in the formation of the 
two political parties into which, under one name or 
another, the American people have at most origin of 
times been divided. Hamilton’s opponents, £ 0 micaipar- 
led by Jefferson, objected to his principal ties ' 
measures that they assumed powers in the national 
government which were not granted to it by the Con¬ 
stitution. Hamilton then fell back upon the Elastic 
Clause 1 of the Constitution, and maintained that such 
powers were implied in it. Jefferson held that this 
doctrine of “ implied powers ” stretched the Elastic 
Clause too far. He held that the Elastic Clause ought 
to be construed strictly and narrowly; Hamilton held 
that it ought to be construed loosely and liberally. 
Hence the names “ strict-constructionist ” and “ loose- 
constructionist,” which mark perhaps the most pro¬ 
found and abiding antagonism in the history of 
American politics. 

Practically all will admit that the Elastic Clause, if 
construed strictly, ought not to be construed too 
narrowly; and, if construed liberally, ought not to be 
construed too loosely. Neither party has been con¬ 
sistent in applying its principles, but in the main we 
can call Hamilton the founder of the Federalist party, 
which has had for its successors the National Republi¬ 
cans of 1828, the Whigs of 1838 to 1852, and the Re¬ 
publicans of 1854 to the present time; while we can cal] 
1 Article I., section viii., clause 18 ; see above, p. 245. 


260 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


Jefferson the founder of the party which called itself 
Republican from about 1792 to about 1828, and since 
then has been known as the Democratic party. This 
is rather a rough description in view of the real com¬ 
plication of the historical facts, but it is an approxi¬ 
mation to the truth. 

It is not my purpose here to give a sketch of the 
history of American parties. Such a sketch, if given in 
due relative proportion, would double the size of this 
little book, of which the main purpose is to treat of 
civil government in the United States with 

Tariff, In- ° . . . . 

temai im- reference to its onqms . i3ut it may here be 

provementS; ... ° ^ 

andNationai said in general that the practical questions 
which have divided the two great parties 
have been concerned with the powers of the national 
government as to (1) the Tariff; (2) the making 
of roads, improving rivers and harbours, etc., under 
the general head of Internal Improvements ; and (8) 
the establishment of a National Bank , with the na¬ 
tional government as partner holding shares in it and 
taking a leading part in the direction of its affairs. 
On the question of such a national bank the Demo¬ 
cratic party achieved a complete and decisive victory 
under President Tyler. On the question of internal 
improvements the opposite party still holds the 
ground, but most of its details have been settled by 
the great development of the powers of private enter¬ 
prise during the past sixty years, and it is not at 
present a “ burning question.” The question of the 
tariff, however, remains to-day as a “burning ques¬ 
tion,” but it is no longer argued on grounds of con¬ 
stitutional law, but on grounds of political economy. 
Hamilton’s construction of the Elastic Clause has to 
this extent prevailed, and mainly for the reason that a 
liberal construction of that clause was needed in order 


A FEW WORDS ABOUT POLITICS. 261 


to give the national government enough power to re¬ 
strict the spread of slavery and suppress the great 
rebellion of which slavery was the exciting cause. 

Another political question, more important, if pos¬ 
sible, than that of the Tariff, is to-day the question of 
the reform of the Civil Service; but it is civil service 
not avowedly made a party question. Twenty reform - 
years ago both parties laughed at it; now both try to 
treat it with a show of respect and to render unto it 
lip-homage; and the control of the immediate political 
future probably lies with the party which treats it 
most seriously. It is a question that was not distinctly 
foreseen in the days of Hamilton and Jefferson, when 
the Constitution was made and adopted ; otherwise, 
one is inclined to believe, the framers of the Consti¬ 
tution would have had something to say about it. 
The question as to the Civil Service arises from the 
fact that the president has the power of appointing 
a vast number of petty officials, chiefly postmasters 
and officials concerned with the collection of the fed¬ 
eral revenue. Such officials have properly nothing to 
do with politics; they are simply the agents or clerks 
or servants of the national government in conducting 
its business : and if the business of the national gov¬ 
ernment is to be managed on such ordinary principles 
of prudence as prevail in the management of private 
business, such servants ought to be selected for per¬ 
sonal merit and retained for life or during good be¬ 
haviour. It did not occur to our earlier presidents to 
regard the management of the public business in any 
other light than this. 

But as early as the beginning of the present cen¬ 
tury a vicious system was growing up in New York 
and Pennsylvania. In those states the appointive 
offices came to be used as bribes or as rewards for 


262 THE FEDERAL UNION. 

partisan services. By securing votes for a successful 
candidate, a man with little in his pocket and 

Origin of the . . i i i • 

“ spoils eys- nothing in particular to do could obtain some 
office with a comfortable salary. It would 
be given him as a reward, and some other man, per¬ 
haps more competent than himself, would have to be 
turned out in order to make room for him. A more 
effective method of driving good citizens “ out of poli¬ 
tics ” could hardly be devised. It called to the front 
a large class of men of coarse moral fibre who greatly 
preferred the excitement of speculating in politics to 
earning an honest living by some ordinary humdrum 
business. The civil service of these states was se¬ 
riously damaged in quality, politics degenerated into 
a wild scramble for offices, salaries were paid to men 
who did little or no public service in return, and thus 
the line which separates taxation from rpbbery was 
often crossed. 

About the same time there grew up an idea that 
there is something especially democratic, and there¬ 
fore meritorious, about “ rotation in office.” Govern- 
“ Rotation ment offices were regarded as plums at which 
m office.” every one ought to be allowed a chance to 
take a bite. The way was prepared in 1820 by W. H. 
Crawford, of Georgia, who succeeded in getting the law 
enacted that limits the tenure of office for postmasters, 
revenue collectors, and other servants of the federal 
government to four years. The importance of this 
measure was not understood, and it excited very little 
discussion at the time. The next presidential election 
which resulted in a change of party was that of Jack- 
son in 1828, and then the methods of New York and 
Pennsylvania were applied on a national scale. Jack- 
son cherished the absurd belief that the administration 
of his predecessor Adams had been corrupt, and he 


A FEW WORDS ABOUT POLITICS. 263 


turned men out of office with a keen zest. During 
the forty years between Washington’s first inaugura¬ 
tion and Jackson’s the total number of removals from 
office was 74, and out of this number 5 were default¬ 
ers. During the first year of Jackson’s administra¬ 
tion the number of changes made in the The “spoils 
civil service was about 2,000. 1 Such was 
the abrupt inauguration upon a national tional * 
scale of the so-called “ spoils system.” The phrase 
originated with W. L. Marcy, of New York, who in 
a speech in the senate in 1831 declared that “ to the 
victors belong the spoils.” The man who said this 
of course did not realize that he was making one of 
the most shameful remarks recorded in history. There 
was, however, much aptness in his phrase, inasmuch 
as it was a confession that the business of American 
politics was about to be conducted on principles fit 
only for the warfare of barbarians. 

In the canvass of 1840 the Whigs promised to re¬ 
form the civil service, and the promise brought them 
many Democratic votes; but after they had won the 
election, they followed Jackson’s example. The 
Democrats followed in the same way in 1845, and 
from that time down to 1885 it was customary at each 
change of party to make a “ clean sweep ” of the 
offices. Soon after the Civil War the evils of the 
system began to attract serious attention on the part 
of thoughtful people. The “ spoils system ” has 
helped to sustain all manner of abominations, from 
grasping monopolies and civic jobbery down to po¬ 
litical rum-shops. The virus runs through everything, 
and the natural tendency of the evil is to grow with 
the growth of the country. 

In 1883 Congress passed the Civil Service Act, 
1 Sumner’s Jackson, p. 147. 


264 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


allowing the president to select a board of examiners 
on whose recommendation appointments are 
Servi^eAct made. Candidates for office are subjected 
of 1883. to an eag y com p e titive examination. The 
system has worked well in other countries, and under 
Presidents Arthur and Cleveland it was applied to 
a considerable part of the civil service. It has also 
been adopted in some states and cities. The oppo¬ 
nents of reform object to the examination that it is 
not always intimately connected with the work of the 
office, 1 but, even if this were so, the merit of the sys¬ 
tem lies in its removal of the offices from the category 
of things known as “ patronage.” It relieves the 
president of much needless work and wearisome im¬ 
portunity. The president and the heads of depart¬ 
ments appoint (in many cases, through subordinates) 
about 115,000 officials. It is therefore impossible to 
know much about their character or competency. It 
becomes necessary to act by advice, and the advice of 
an examining board is sure to be much better than 
the advice of political schemers intent upon getting 
a salaried office for their needy friends. The ex¬ 
amination system has made a fair beginning and will 
doubtless be gradually improved and made more strin¬ 
gent. Something too has been done toward stopping 
two old abuses attendant upon political canvasses, — 
(1) forcing government clerks, under penalty of losing 
their places, to contribute part of their salaries for 
election purposes ; (2) allowing government clerks to 

1 The objection that the examination questions are irrelevant 
to the work of the office is often made the occasion of gross ex¬ 
aggeration. I have given, in Appendix I, an average sample of 
the examination papers used in the customs service. It is taken 
from Comstock’s Civil Service in the United States, New York, 
Holt & Co., 1885, an excellent manual with very full particulars. 


A FEW WORDS ABOUT POLITICS. 265 


neglect their work in order to take an active part in 
the canvass. Before the reform of the civil service 
can be completed, however, it will be necessary to re¬ 
peal Crawford’s act of 1820 and make the tenure of 
postmasters and revenue collectors as secure as that of 
the chief justice of the United States. 

Another political reform which promises excellent 
results is the adoption by many states of some form 
of the Australian ballot-system, for the pur- T} A t 
pose of checking intimidation and briberv Nan ballot- 

^ ° •/ system* 

at elections. The ballots are printed by the 
state, and contain the names of all the candidates of 
all the parties. Against the name of each candidate 
the party to which he belongs is designated, and 
against each name there is a small vacant space to be 
filled with a cross. At the polling-place the ballots 
are kept in an inclosure behind a railing, and no bal¬ 
lot can be brought outside under penalty of fine or 
imprisonment. 1 One ballot is nailed against the wall 
outside the railing, so that it may be read at leisure. 
The space behind the railing is divided into separate 
booths quite screened from each other. Each booth 
is provided with a pencil and a convenient shelf on 
which to write. The voter goes behind the railing, 
takes the ballot which is handed him, carries it into 
one of the booths, and marks a cross against the 
names of the candidates for whom he votes. He then 
puts his ballot into the box, and his name is checked 
off on the register of voters of the precinct. This sys¬ 
tem is very simple, it enables a vote to be given in 
absolute secrecy, and it keeps “ heelers ” away from 

1 This is a brief description of the system lately adopted in 
Massachusetts. The penalty here mentioned is a fine not ex¬ 
ceeding a thousand dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding one 
year, or both such fine and such imprisonment. 


266 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


the polls. It is favourable to independence in voting , 1 
and it is unfavourable to bribery, because unless the 
briber can follow his man to the polls and see how he 
votes, he cannot be sure that his bribe is effective. 
To make the precautions against bribery complete it 
will doubtless be necessary to add to the secret ballot 
the English system of accounting for election ex¬ 
penses. All the funds used in an election must pass 
through the hands of a small local committee, vouch¬ 
ers must be received for every penny that is ex¬ 
pended, and after the election an itemized account 
must be made out and its accuracy attested under 
oath before a notary public. This system of account¬ 
ing has put an end to bribery in England . 2 

Complaints of bribery and corruption have attracted 
especial attention in the United States during the past 
few years, and it is highly creditable to the good sense 
of the people that measures of prevention have been 

1 It is especially favourable to independence in voting, if the 
lists of the candidates are placed in a single column, without 
reference to party (each name of course, having the proper 
party designation, “ Rep.,” “ Dem.,” “ Prohib.,” etc., attached to 
it). In such case it must necessarily take the voter some little 
time to find and mark each name for which he wishes to vote. 
If, however, the names of the candidates are arranged according 
to their party, all the Republicans in one list, all the Democrats 
in another, etc., this arrangement is much less favourable to in¬ 
dependence in voting and much less efficient as a check upon 
bribery ; because the man who votes a straight party ticket will 
make all his marks in a very short time, while the “ scratcher,” 
or independent voter, will consume much more time in selecting 
his names. Thus people interested in seeing whether a man is 
voting the straight party ticket or not can form an opinion from 
the length of time he spends in the booth. It is, therefore, im¬ 
portant that the names of all candidates should be printed in a 
single column. 

2 An important step in this direction has been taken in the 
New York Corrupt Practices Act of April, 1890. See Appendix J. 


A FEW WORDS ABOUT POLITICS. 267 


so promptly adopted by so many states. With an in¬ 
dependent and uncorrupted ballot, and the civil service 
taken “ out of politics,” all other reforms will become 
far more easily accomplished. These ends will pre¬ 
sently be attained. Popular government makes many 
mistakes, and sometimes it is slow in finding them out j 
but when once it has discovered them it has a way of 
correcting them. It is the best kind of government 
in the world, the most wisely conservative, the most 
steadily progressive, and the most likely to endure. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 

1. What was a chief source of opposition to the new federal 

government ? 

2 . What necessity for caution existed in devising methods to 

raise money ? 

3 . Hamilton’s scheme of excise : — 

a. The things on which excise was laid. 

b. The unpopularity of the scheme. 

c. The “ Whiskey Insurrection.” 

d. Its suppression by Washington. 

4 . Hamilton’s tariff scheme : — 

a. The class of things on which duties were placed. 

b. Popular acquiescence in the plan. 

c. Effect of diverting the stream of custom-house revenue 

from its old destination in the several state treasuries to 
its new destination in the federal treasury. 

d. Direct taxation during the Civil War. 

e. Methods pursued since the Civil War. 

5 . The origin of American political parties : — 

a. Jefferson’s objection to Hamilton’s policy. 

b. Hamilton’s defence of his policy. 

c. Jefferson’s view of the Elastic Clause. 

d. Hamilton’s view of the Elastic Clause. 

e. Two names suggestive of an abiding antagonism in Ameri¬ 

can politics. 

f A view of the Elastic Clause that commends itself to all. 

g. The party of Hamilton and its successors. 

h. The party of Jefferson and its successor. 

6 . Great practical questions that have divided parties : — 


268 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


a. The Tariff. 

b. Internal Improvements. 

c. A National Bank. 

d. The present attitude towards these three questions. 

e. The shifting of ground in arguing the tariff question. 

f. The reason for this change of base. 

7 . Civil Service reform : — 

a. The attitude of parties a few years ago. 

b. The present attitude of the same parties. 

c. A question not foreseen. 

d. The number of officers appointed. 

e. The non-political nature of their duties. 

f. The principles that should prevail in their selection and 

service. 

8 . The “ spoils system ” : — 

a. Early appointive officers in New York and Pennsylvania. 

b. The driving of good citizens out of politics. 

c. The character of the men called to the front. 

d. The effect on civil service and on politics. 

9 . Rotation in office : — 

a. A new idea about government offices. 

b. Crawford’s law of 1820. 

c. Failure to grasp its significance. 

d. Jackson’s course in 1829. 

e. Removals from office down to Jackson’s time. 

f Removals during the first year of Jackson’s administra¬ 
tion. 

g. Origin of the phrase, “ spoils system.” 

h. Promises and practice down to 1885. 

1 . The evils conspicuous since the Civil War. 

10 . The Civil Service Act of 1883. 

a. A board of examiners. 

b. Competitive examination of candidates. 

c. The spread of the principles of the reform. 

d. The merit of the system. 

e. Two old abuses stopped. 

f. Further measures needed. 

11 . The Australian ballot system : — 

a. The object of this system. 

b. The printing of the ballots. 

c. What a ballot contains. 

d- Ballots at the polling-places. 


A FEW WORDS ABOUT POLITICS . 269 


<?. The booths. 
f The manner of voting. 

g. The advantages of the system. 

h. An additional precaution against bribery. 

12 . What is the attitude of the people towards bribery and cor¬ 

ruption ? 

13 . What reforms must be accomplished before others can make 

much headway ? 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS* 

1. How much money is needed by the United States govern¬ 

ment for the expenses of a year ? How much is needed 
for the army, the navy, the interest on the public debt, 
pensions, rivers and harbours, ordinary civil expenses, 
etc. ? (Answer for any recent year.) 

2 . From what sources does the revenue come ? Tell how 

much revenue each of the several sources has yielded in 
any recent year. 

3 . What is the origin of the word tariff ? 

4 . What is meant by protection ? What is meant by free trade ? 

What is meant by a tariff for revenue only f What is 
meant by reciprocity ? Give illustrations. 

5 . What are some of the reasons assigned for protection ? 

6 . What are some of the reasons assigned for free trade ? 

7 . Which policy prevails among the states themselves ? 

8 . Which policy prevails between the United States and other 

nations ? 

9 . Mention all the kinds of United States money in circula¬ 

tion. Bring into the class a national bank bill, a gold 
certificate, a silver certificate, any piece that is used as 
money, and inquire wherein its value lies, what it can or 
cannot be used for, what the United States will or will 
not give in exchange for it, and whether it is worth its 
face in gold or not. 

\o. Is it right to buy silver at seventy-five cents and then put it 
into circulation stamped a dollar, the Government receiv¬ 
ing the profit ? Can you get a gold dollar for a silver one? 

11. Is a promise to pay a dollar a real dollar ? May it be as 

good as a dollar ? If so, under what conditions ? 

12 . If gold were as common as gravel, what characteristics of it 

universally recognized would remain unchanged ? What 
would become of its purchasing power, if it cost little or 


270 


the federal union. 


no labour to obtain it ? Why is it accepted as a standard 
of value ? 

13. During the Civil War gold was said to fluctuate in value, 

because it took two dollars of paper money, sometimes 
more, sometimes less, to buy one dollar in gold. Where 
was the real changing ? What was the cause of it ? 

14. What men are at the head of the national government at the 

present time ? (Think of the executive department and 
its primary divisions, the legislative department, and the 
judicial.) 

15. What salaries are paid these officers? Compare American 

salaries with European salaries for corresponding high 
positions. 

16. Should a president serve a second term ? What is the ad¬ 

vantage of such service ? What is the objection to it ? 
Is a single term of six years desirable ? 

17. Ought the president to be elected directly by the people ? 

18. Name in order the persons entitled to succeed to the presi¬ 

dency in case of vacancy. 

19. Who is your representative in Congress ? 

20. Who are your senators in Congress ? 

21. What is the pay of members of Congress ? Who determine 

the compensation ? What is there to prevent lavish or 
improper pay ? 

22. Ther,e is said to be “ log-rolling ” in legislation at times. 

What is the nature of this practice ? Is it right ? 

23. Is the senator or the representative of higher dignity? 

Why? 

24. Why should members of Congress be exempted from arrest 

in certain cases ? 

25. Find authority in the Constitution for various things that 

Congress has done, such as the following : — 

a. It has established a military academy at West Point. 

b. It has given public lands to Pacific railroads. 

c. It has authorized uniforms for letter carriers. 

d. It has ordered surveys of the coast. 

e. It has established the Yellowstone National Park. 
f It has voted millions of dollars for pensions. 

g. It refused during the Civil War to pay its promises with 
silver or gold. 

h. It bought Alaska of Russia. 

i. It has adopted exclusive measures towards the Chinese. 


A FEW WORDS ABOUT POLITICS. 271 


26. Reverse the preceding exercise. That is, cite clauses of the 

Constitution, and tell what particular things Congress has 
done because of such authority. For example, what 
specific things have been done under the following pow¬ 
ers of Congress ? — 

a. To collect taxes. 

b. To regulate commerce with foreign nations. 

c. To coin money. 

d. To establish post-roads. 

e. To provide for the common defence. 

f. To provide for the general welfare. 

27. Compare the strength of the national government to-day 

with its strength in the past. 

28. Who are citizens according to the Constitution ? Is a woman 

a citizen ? Is a child a citizen ? Are Indians citizens ? 
Are foreigners residing in this country citizens ? Are 
children born abroad of American parents citizens ? Can 
one person be a citizen of two nations at the same time, 
or of two states, or of twcf towns ? Explain. 

29. To what laws is an American vessel on the ocean subject ? 

30. Show how the interests and needs of the various sections of 

the country present wide differences. Compare mining 
sections with agricultural, and both with manufacturing ; 
Pacific states with Atlantic ; Northern states with South¬ 
ern. What need of mutual consideration exists ? 

31. Name all the political divisions from the smallest to the great¬ 

est in which you live. A Cambridge (Mass.) boy might, 
for example, say, “ I live in the third precinct of the first 
ward, in the first Middlesex representative district, the 
third Middlesex senatorial district, the third councillor 
district, and the fifth congressional district. My city is 
Cambridge ; my county, Middlesex, etc.” Name the 
various persons who represent you in these several dis¬ 
tricts. 

32. May state and local officers exercise authority on United 

States government territory, as, for example, within the 
limits of an arsenal or a custom-house ? May national gov¬ 
ernment officers exercise authority in states and towns ? 

33. What is a sovereign state ? Is New York a sovereign state ? 

the United States? the Dominion of Canada? Great 
Britain ? Explain. 

34. When sovereign nations disagree, how can a settlement be 


272 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


effected? What is the best way to settle such a dis¬ 
agreement ? Illustrate from history the methods of 
negotiation, of arbitration, and of war. 

35 . When two states of the Federal Union disagree, what solu¬ 
tion of the difficulty is possible ? 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 


The Federal Union. — For the origin of our federal con¬ 
stitution, see Bancroft’s History of the United States, final edition, 
vol. vi., N. Y., 1886 ; Curtis’s History of the Constitution 2 vols., 
N. Y., 1861, new edition, vol. i., 1889 ; and my Critical Period of 
American History, Boston, 1888, with copious references in the 
bibliographical note at the end. Once more we may refer ad¬ 
vantageously to J. H. U. Studies, II., v.-vi., H. C. Adams, Tax¬ 
ation in the United States, 1789-1816 ; VIII., i.-ii., A. W. Small, 
The Beginnings of American Nationality. See also Jameson’s 
Essays in the Constitutional History of the United States in the 
Formative Period, 1775-1789, Boston, 1889, a very valuable book. 

On the progress toward union during the colonial period, see 
especially Frothingham’s Rise of the Republic of the United 
States, Boston, 1872 ; also Scott’s Development of Constitutional 
Liberty in the English Colonies of America, N. Y., 1882. 

By far the ablest and most thorough book on the government 
of the United States that has ever been published is Bryce’s 
American Commonwealth, 2 vols., London and N. Y., 1888. No 
American citizen’s education is properly completed until he has 
read the whole of it carefully. In connection therewith, the 
work of Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 2 vols., 6 th ed., 
Boston, 1876, is interesting. The Scotchman describes and dis¬ 
cusses the American commonwealth of to-day, the Frenchman 
that of sixty years ago. There is an instructive difference in 
the methods of the two writers, Tocqueville being inclined to 
draw deductions from ingenious generalizations and to explain 
as natural results of democracy sundry American characteristics 
that require a different explanation. His great work is admira¬ 
bly reviewed and criticised by Bryce, in the J. H. U. Studies, V., 
ix., The Predictions of Hamilton and De Tocqueville. 

The following manuals may be recommended : Thorpe, The 




BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . 


273 


Government of the People of the United States, Pliila., 1889 ; Mar¬ 
tin's Text Book on Civil Government in the United States, N. Y. 
and Chicago, 1875 (written with special reference to Massachu¬ 
setts) ; Nort ham’s Manual of Civil Government, Syracuse, 1887 
(written with special reference to New York) ; Ford’s American 
Citizen’s Manual, N. Y., 1887 ; Rupert’s Guide to the Study of 
the History and the Cojistitution of the United States, Boston, 1888 ; 
Andrews’s Manual of the Constitution of the United States, Cin¬ 
cinnati, 1874 ; Miss Dawes, Hoio we are Governed, Boston, 1888 ; 
Macy, Our Government: How it Grew, What it Does, and How it 
Does it, Boston, 1887. The last is especially good, and mingles 
narrative with exposition in an unusually interesting way. Nord- 
hoff’s Politics for Young Americans, N. Y., 1887, is a book that 
ought to be read by all young Americans for its robust and sound 
political philosophy. It is suitable for boys and girls from 
twelve to fifteen years old. C. F. Dole’s The Citizen and the 
Neighbour, Boston, 1887, is a suggestive and stimulating little 
book. For a comparative survey of governmental institutions, 
ancient and modern, see Woodrow Wilson’s The State: El¬ 
ements of Historical and Practical Politics , Boston, 1889. An 
enormous mass of matter is compressed into this volume, and, 
although it inevitably suffers somewhat from extreme conden¬ 
sation, it is so treated as to be both readable and instructive. 
The chapter on The State and Federal Governments of the United 
States has been published separately, and makes a convenient 
little volume of 131 pages. Teachers should find much help in 
MacAlister’s Syllabus of a Course of Elementary Instruction in 
United States History and Civil Government , Pliila., 1887. 

The following books of the “ English Citizen Series,” pub¬ 
lished by Macmillan & Co., may often be profitably consulted : 
M. D. Chalmers, Local Government; H. D. Traill, Central Gov¬ 
ernment ; F. W. Maitland, Justice and Police ; Spencer Walpole, 
The Electorate and the Legislature; A. J. Wilson, The National 
Budget; T. H. Farrer, The State in its Relations to Trade ; W. 
S. Jevons, The State in its Relations to Labour. The works on 
the English Constitution by Stubbs, Gneist, Taswell-Lang- 
mead, Freeman, and Bagehot are indispensable to a thorough 
understanding of civil government in the United States : Stubbs, 
Constitutional History of England , 3 vols., London, 1875-78 ; 
Gneist, History of the English Constitution, 2d ed., 2 vols., Lon¬ 
don, 1889 ; Taswell-Langmead, English Constitutional History, 


274 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


5th ed., Boston, 1896 ; Freeman, The Growth of the English Con¬ 
stitution, London, 1872 ; Bagehot, The English Constitution , re¬ 
vised ed., Boston, 1873. An admirable book in this connection 
is Hannis Taylor’s (of Alabama) Origin and Growth of the Eng¬ 
lish Constitution, Boston, 1889. In connection with Bagehot’s 
English Constitution the student may profitably read Woodrow 
Wilson’s Congressional Government, Boston, 1885, and A. L. 
Lowell’s Essays in Government, Boston, 1890. See also Sir H. 
Maine, Popular Government, London, 1886 ; Sir G. C. Lewis on 
The Use and Abuse of Certain Political Terms, London, 1832 ; 
Methods of Observation and Reasoning in Politics, 2 vols., London, 
1852; and Dialogue on the Best Form of Government , London, 1863. 

Among the most valuable books ever written on the proper 
sphere and duties of civil government are Herbert Spencer’s 
Social Statics, London, 1851; The Study of Sociology, 9th ed., 
London, 1880 ; The Man versus The State, London, 1884; they 
are all reprinted by D. Appleton & Co., New York. The views 
expressed in Social Statics with regard to the tenure of land are 
regarded as unsound by many who are otherwise in entire sym¬ 
pathy with Mr. Spencer’s views, and they are ably criticised in 
Bonham’s Industrial Liberty, N. Y , 1888. A book of great merit, 
which ought to be reprinted as it is now not easy to obtain, is 
Toulmin Smith’s Local Self-Government and Centralization , Lon¬ 
don, 1851. Its point of view is sufficiently indicated by the 
following admirable pair of maxims (p. 12) : — 

“ Local Self-Government is that system of Government un¬ 
der which the greatest number of minds, knowing the most, and 
having the fullest opportunities of knowing it, about the special mat¬ 
ter in hand, and having the greatest interest in its well-working, 
have the management of it, or control over it. 

“ Centralization is that system of government under which the 
smallest number of minds, and those knowing the least, and having 
the fewest opportunities of knowing it, about the special matter in 
hand, and having the smallest interest in its well-working, have the 
management of it, or control over it.” 

An immense amount of wretched misgovernment would be 
avoided if all legislators and all voters would engrave these 
wholesome definitions upon their minds. In connection with the 
books just mentioned much detailed and valuable information 
may be found in the collections of essays edited by J. W. Pro- 
byn, Local Government and Taxation [in various countries], 
London, 1875 ; Local Government and Taxation in the United 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 275 

Kingdom , London, 1882. See also R. T. Ely’s Taxation in Amer¬ 
ican States and Cities, N. Y., 1889. 

The most elaborate work on our political history is that of 
Hermann von Holst, Constitutional and Political History of the 
United States , translated from the German by J. J. Lalor, vols. 
i.-vi. (1787-1859), Chicago, 1877-89. In spite of a somewhat too 
pronounced partisan bias, its value is great. See also Schouler’s 
History of the United States under the Constitution , vols. i.-iv. 
(1783-1847), new ed., N. Y., 1890. The most useful handbook, 
alike for teachers and for pupils, is Alexander Johnston’s His¬ 
tory of American Politics , 2d ed., N. Y., 1882. The United States, 
N. Y., 1889, by the same author, is also excellent. Every school 
should possess a copy of Lalor’s Cyclopaedia of Political Science, 
Political Economy, and the Political History of the United States, 
3 vols., Chicago, 1882-84. The numerous articles in it relating 
to American history are chiefly by Alexander Johnston, whose 
mastery of his subject was simply unrivalled. His death in 
1889, at the early age of forty, must be regarded as a national 
calamity. For a manual of constitutional law, Cooley’s General 
Principles of Constitutional Law in the United States of America, 
Boston, 1880, is to be recommended. The reader may fitly sup¬ 
plement his general study of civil government by the little book 
of E. P. Dole, Talks about Law: a Popular Statement of What 
our Law is and How it is to be A dministered, Boston, 1887. 

In connection with the political history, Stanwood’s History of 
Presidential Elections, newed., Boston, 1898, will be found useful. 
See also Lawton’s American Caucus System, N. Y., 1885. On 
the general subject of civil service reform, see Eaton’s Civil 
Service in Great Britain: a History of Abuses and Reforms, and 
their Bearing upon American Politics, N. Y., 1880. Comstock s 
Civil Service in the United States, N. Y., 1885, is a catalogue of 
offices, with full account of civil service rules, examinations, 
Specimens of examination papers, etc. ; also some of the state 
rules, as in New York, Massachusetts, etc. 

I would here call attention to some publications by the Di¬ 
rectors of the Old South Studies in History and Politics,— 
first, The Constitution of the United States, with Historical and 
Bibliographical Notes and Outlines for Study, prepared by E. D. 
Mead (Directors of the Old South Work, ^5 cents) ; secondly, 
the Old South Leaflets , furnished to schools and the trade by 


276 


THE FEDERAL UNION. 


the same publishers, at 5 cents a copy or $4.00 a hundred. 
These leaflets are for the most part reprints of important original 
papers, furnished with valuable historical and bibliographical 
notes. The titles of the earliest issues in this series are as 
follows : 1. The Constitution of the United States ; 2 . The Ar¬ 
ticles of Confederation ; 3. The Declaration of Independence ; 
4, Washington’s Farewell Address ; 5. Magna Charta ; 6. Vane’s 
“ Healing Question ; ” 7. Charter of Massachusetts Bay, 1629; 
8 . Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, 1639 ; 9. Franklin’s Plan 
of Union, 1754 ; 10 . Washington’s Inaugurals ; 11. Lincoln’s 
Inaugurals and Emancipation Proclamation ; 12 . The Federalist, 
Nos. 1 and 2 ; 13. The Ordinance of 1787 ; 14. The Constitu¬ 
tion of Ohio ; 15. Washington’s “ Legacy ” ; 16. Washington’s 
Letter to Benjamin Harrison, Governor of Virginia, on the 
Opening of Communication with the West ; 17. Verrazano’s 
Voyage, 1524 ; 18. Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confedera¬ 
tion. (Additions are made to this list every year.) 

Howard Preston’s Documents Illustrative of American History , 
N. Y., 1886, contains the following : First Virginia Charter, 
1606 ; Second Virginia Charter, 1609; Third Virginia Charter, 
1612 ; Mayflower Compact, 1620 ; Massachusetts Charter, 1629 ; 
Maryland Charter, 1632 ; Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, 
1639 ; New England Confederation, 1643 ; Connecticut Charter, 
1662; Rhode Island Charter, 1663 ; Pennsylvania Charter, 
1681 ; Penn’s Plan of Union, 1697 ; Georgia Charter, 1732 ; 
Franklin’s Plan of Union, 1754 ; Declaration of Rights, 1765 ; 
Declaration of Rights, 1774 ; Non-Importation Agreement, 1774 ; 
Virginia Bill of Rights, 1776 ; Declaration of Independence, 
1776 ; Articles of Confederation, 1777 ; Treaty of Peace, 1783 ; 
Northwest Ordinance, 1787 ; Constitution of the United States, 
1787 ; Alien and Sedition Laws, 1798 ; Virginia Resolutions, 

1798 ; Kentucky Resolutions, 1798 ; Kentucky Resolutions, 

1799 ; Nullification Ordinance, 1832 ; Ordinance of Secession, 
1860 ; South Carolina Declaration of Independence, 1860 ; Eman¬ 
cipation Proclamation, 1863. 

See also Poore’s Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial 
Charters, and other Organic Laws of the United States, 2 vols., 
Washington, 1877. 

The series of essays entitled The Federalist, written by Hamil¬ 
ton, Madison, and Jay, in 1787—88, while the ratification of the 
Constitution was in question, will always remain indispensable 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 


277 


as an introduction to the thorough study of the principles upon 
which our federal government is based. The most recent edi¬ 
tion is by H. C. Lodge, N. Y., 1888. For the systematic and 
elaborate study of the Constitution, see Foster’s References to the 
Constitution of the United States, a little pamphlet of 50 pages 
published by the “ Society for Political Education,” 330 Pearl St., 
New York, 1890, price 25 cents. 

For very pleasant and profitable reading, in connection with 
the formation and interpretation of the Constitution, and the 
political history of our country from 1763 to 1850, we have the 
“ American Statesmen Series,” edited by J. T. Morse, and pub¬ 
lished by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1882-96 : Benja¬ 
min Franklin, by J. T. Morse ; Patrick Henry , by M. C. Tyler ; 
Samuel Adams, by J. K. Hosmer ; George Washington, by H. C. 
Lodge, 2 vols. ; John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, by J. T. 
Morse ; Alexander Hamilton , by H. C. Lodge ; Gouverneur Mor¬ 
ris, by T. Roosevelt ; James Madison, by S. H. Gay ; James 
Monroe, by D. C. Gilman ; Albert Gallatin, by J. A. Stevens ; 
John Randolph, by H. Adams ; John Jay, by G. Peliew ; John 
Marshall, by A. B. Magruder; John Quincy Adams, by J. T. 
Morse ; John C. Calhoun, by H. von Holst ; Andrew Jackson , 
by W. G. Sumner ; Martin Van Buren, by E. M. Shepard ; 
Henry Clay, by C. Schurz, 2 vols. ; Daniel Webster, by H. C. 
Lodge ; Thomas H. Benton, by T. Roosevelt; Lewis Cass, by 
Prof. Andrew C. McLaughlin; Abraham Lincoln, by John T. 
Morse, Jr., 2 vols.; William H. Seward, by Thornton K. Lothrop. 

In connection with the questions on page 269 relating to tariff, 
currency, etc., references to some works on political economy are 
needed. The arguments in favour of protectionism are set forth 
in Bowen’s American Political Economy, last ed., N. Y., 1870 ; the 
arguments in favour of free trade are set forth in Perry’s Po¬ 
litical Economy, 19th ed., N. Y., 1887 ; and for an able and im¬ 
partial historical survey, Taussig’s Tariff History of the United 
States, N. Y., 1888, may be recommended. For a lucid view of 
currency, see Jevons’s Money and the Mechanism of Exchange , 
N. Y., 1875. 

A useful work on the Australian method of voting is Wigmore’s 
The Australian Ballot System, 2d ed., Boston, 1890. 

In connection with some of the questions on page 271, the 
student may profitably consult Woolsey’s International Law, 5th 
ed., N. Y., 1879. 


NOTE TO PAGE 226. 


By the act of February 3,1887, the second Monday in January 
is fixed for the meeting of the electoral colleges in all the states. 
The provisions relating to the first Wednesday in January are 
repealed. The interval between the second Monday in January 
and the second Wednesday in February remains available for 
the settlement of disputed questions. 

NOTE TO PAGE 250. 

In order to relieve the supreme court of the United States, 
which had come to be overburdened with business, a new court, 
with limited appellate jurisdiction, called the circuit court of 
appeals, was organized in 1892. It consists primarily of nine 
appeal judges , one for each of the nine circuits. For any given 
circuit the supreme court justice of the circuit, the appeal judge 
of the circuit, and the circuit judge constitute the court of appeal. 


APPENDIX A. 

THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 

Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the States 
of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and 
Providence Plantations , Connecticut, New York, New Jersey , 
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland , Virginia, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, and Georgia. 

Article I. — The style of this Confederacy shall be, “ The 
United States of America.” 

Art. II. — Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom, and 
independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is 
not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United 
States in Congress assembled. 

Art. III. — The said States hereby severally enter into a 
firm league of friendship with each other, for their common de¬ 
fence, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and gen¬ 
eral welfare, binding themselves to assist each other against all 
force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on 
account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretence 
whatever. 

Art. IV. — The better to secure and perpetuate mutual 
friendship and intercourse among the people of the different 
States in this Union, the free inhabitants of each of these States, 
paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted, shall 
be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in 
the several States; and the people of each State shall have free 
ingress and egress to and from any other State, and shall enjoy 
therein all the privileges of trade and commerce subject to the 
same duties, impositions, and restrictions as the inhabitants 
thereof respectively; provided that such restrictions shall not 
extend so far as to prevent the removal of property imported 
into any State to any other State of which the owner is an in- 


280 


APPENDIX A. 


habitant; provided also, that no imposition, duties, or restriction 
shall be laid by any State on the property of the United States 
or either of them. If any person guilty of, or charged with, 
treason, felony, or other high misdemeanour in any State shall 
flee from justice and be found in any of the United States, he 
shall, upon demand of the governor or executive power of the 
State from which he fled, be delivered up and removed to the 
State having jurisdiction of his offense. Full faith and credit 
shall be given in each of these States to the records, acts, and 
judicial proceedings of the courts and magistrates of every other 
State. 

Art. V. — For the more convenient management of the 
general interests of the United States, delegates shall be annually 
appointed in such manner as the Legislature of each State shall 
direct, to meet in Congress on the first Monday in November, 
in every year, with a power reserved to each State to recall its 
delegates, or any of them, at any time within the year, and to 
send others in their stead for the remainder of the year. No 
State shall be represented in Congress by less than two, nor by 
more than seven members; and no person shall be capable of 
being a delegate for more than three years in any term of six 
years; nor shall any person, being a delegate, be capable of 
holding any office under the United States for which he, or 
another for his benefit, receives any salary, fees, or emolument 
of any kind. Each State shall maintain its own delegates in 
any meeting of the States and while they act as members of the 
Committee of the States. In determining questions in the 
United States, in Congress assembled, each State shall have one 
vote. Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be 
impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Congress; 
and the members of Congress shall be protected in their per¬ 
sons from arrests and imprisonment during the time of their 
going to and from, and attendance on, Congress, except for 
treason, felony, or breach of the peace. 

Art. VI. — No State, without the consent of the United 
States, in Congress assembled, shall send any embassy to, or 
receive any embassy from, or enter into any conference, agree¬ 
ment, alliance, or treaty with any king, prince, or state; nor 
shall any person holding any office of profit or trust under the 
United States, or any of them, accept of any present, emolu¬ 
ment, office, or title of any kind whatever from any king, prince, 
or foreign state; nor shall the United States, in Congress as¬ 
sembled, or any of them, grant any title of nobility. 


ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 281 


No two or more States shall enter into any treaty, confeder¬ 
ation, or.alliance whatever between them, without the consent 
of the United States, in Congress assembled, specifying accu¬ 
rately the purposes for which the same is to be entered into, and 
how long it shall continue. 

No State shall lay any imposts or duties which may interfere, 
with any stipulations in treaties entered into by the United 
States, in Congress assembled, with any king, prince, or state, 
in pursuance of any treaties already proposed by Congress to 
the courts of France and Spain. 

No vessel of war shall be kept up in time of peace by any 
State, except such number only as shall be deemed necessary 
by the United States, in Congress assembled, for the defence of 
such State or its trade, nor shall any body of forces be kept up 
by any State in time of peace, except such number only as, in 
the judgment of the United States, in Congress assembled, shall 
be deemed requisite to garrison the forts necessary for the de¬ 
fence of such State ; but every State shall always keep up a 
well-regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and 
accoutred, and shall provide and constantly have ready for use 
in public stores a due number of field-pieces and tents, and a 
proper quantity of arms, ammunition, and camp equipage. 

No State shall engage in any war without the consent of the 
United States, in Congress assembled, unless such State be 
actually invaded by enemies, or shall have received certain ad¬ 
vice of a resolution being formed by some nation of Indians to 
invade such State, and the danger is so imminent as not to ad¬ 
mit of a delay till the United States, in Congress assembled, 
can be consulted ; nor shall any State grant commissions to any 
ships or vessels of war, nor letters of marque or reprisal, except 
it be after a declaration of war by the United States, in Con¬ 
gress assembled, and then only against the kingdom or state, 
and the subjects thereof, against which war has been so de¬ 
clared, and under such regulations as shall be established by the 
United States, in Congress assembled, unless such State be in¬ 
fested by pirates, in which case vessels of war may be fitted out 
for that occasion, and kept so long as the danger shall continue, 
or until the United States, in Congress assembled, shall deter¬ 
mine otherwise. 

Art. VII. — When land forces are raised by any State for 
the common defence, all officers of or under the rank of Colonel 
shall be appointed by the Legislature of each State respectively 


282 


APPENDIX A. 


by whom such forces shall be raised, or in such manner as such 
State shall direct, and all vacancies shall be filled up by the 
State which first made the appointment. 

Art. VIII. — All charges of war, and all other expenses 
that shall be incurred for the common defence, or general wel¬ 
fare, and allowed by the United States, in Congress assembled, 
shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be sup¬ 
plied by the several States in proportion to the value of all land 
within each State, granted to, or surveyed for, any person, as 
such land and the buildings and improvements thereon shall be 
estimated, according to such mode as the United States, in 
Congress assembled, shall, from time to time, direct and ap¬ 
point. The taxes for paying that proportion shall be laid and 
levied by the authority and direction of the Legislatures of the 
several States, within the time agreed upon by the United 
States, in Congress assembled. 

Art. IX. — The United States, in Congress assembled, 
shall have the sole and exclusive right and power of determining 
on peace and war, except in the cases mentioned in the sixth 
Article; of sending and receiving ambassadors; entering into 
treaties and alliances, provided that no treaty of commerce 
shall be made, whereby the legislative power of the respective 
States shall be restrained from imposing such imposts and 
duties on foreigners as their own people are subjected to, or 
from prohibiting the exportation or importation of any species 
of goods or commodities whatever; of establishing rules for 
deciding, in all cases, what captures on land and water shall be 
legal, and in what manner prizes taken by land or naval forces 
in the service of the United States shall be divided or appropri¬ 
ated; of granting letters of marque and reprisal in times of 
peace; appointing courts for the trial of piracies and felonies 
committed on the high seas ; and establishing courts for receiv¬ 
ing and determining finally appeals in all cases of captures; 
provided that no member of Congress shall be appointed a judge 
of any of the said courts. 

The United States, in Congress assembled, shall also be the 
last resort on appeal in all disputes and differences now sub¬ 
sisting, or that hereafter may arise between two or more States 
concerning boundary jurisdiction, or any other cause what¬ 
ever; which authority shall always be exercised in the manner 
following: Whenever the legislative or executive authority, or 
lawful agent of any State in controversy with another, shall 


ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 288 

present a petition to Congress, stating the matter in question, 
and praying for a hearing, notice thereof shall be given by 
order of Congress to the legislative or executive authority of the 
other State in controversy, and a day assigned for the appear- 
once of the parties by their lawful agents, who shall then be 
directed to appoint, by joint consent, commissioners or judges 
to constitute a court for hearing and determining the matter in 
question; but if they cannot agree, Congress shall name three 
persons out of each of the United States, and from the list of 
such persons each party shall alternately strike out one, the 
petitioners beginning, until the number shall be reduced to 
thirteen; and from that number not less than seven nor more 
than -nine names, as Congress shall direct, shall, in the presence 
of Congress, be drawn out by lot; and the persons whose names 
shall be so drawn, or any five of them, shall be commissioners 
or judges, to hear and finally determine the controversy, so 
always as a major part of the judges who shall hear the cause 
shall agree in the determination; and if either party shall 
neglect to attend at the day appointed, without showing reasons 
which Congress shall judge sufficient, or being present, shall 
refuse to strike, the Congress shall proceed to nominate three 
persons out of each State, and the secretary of Congress shall 
strike in behalf of such party absent or refusing; and the judg¬ 
ment and sentence of the court, to be appointed in the manner 
before prescribed, shall be final and conclusive; and if any of 
the parties shall refuse to submit to the authority of such court, 
or to appear or defend their claim or cause, the court shall 
nevertheless proceed to pronounce sentence or judgment, which 
shall in like manner be final and decisive; the judgment or 
sentence and other proceedings being in either case transmitted 
to Congress, and lodged among the acts of Congress for the 
security of the parties concerned; provided, that every commis¬ 
sioner, before he sits in judgment, shall take an oath, to be ad¬ 
ministered by one of the judges of the supreme or superior court 
of the State where the cause shall be tried, “ well and truly to 
hear and determine the matter in question, according to the best 
of his judgment, without favour, affection, or hope of reward.” 
Provided, also, that no State shall be deprived of territory for 
the benefit of the United States. 

All controversies concerning the private right of soil claimed 
under different grants of two or more States, whose jurisdictions, 
at they may respect such lands, and the States which passed 


284 


APPENDIX A. 


such grants are adjusted, the said grants or either of them being 
at the same time claimed to have originated antecedent to such 
settlement of jurisdiction, shall, on the petition of either party 
to the Congress of the United States, be finally determined, as 
near as may be, in the same manner as is before prescribed for 
deciding disputes respecting territorial jurisdiction between 
different States. 

The United States, in Congress assembled, shall also have 
the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy 
and value of coin struck by their own authority, or by that of 
the respective States ; fixing the standard of weights and meas¬ 
ures throughout the United States; regulating the trade and 
managing all affairs with the Indians, not members of any of 
the States; provided that the legislative right of any State, 
within its own limits, be not infringed or violated ; establishing 
and regulating post-offices from one State to another, throughout 
all the United States, and exacting such postage on the papers 
passing through the same as may be requisite to defray the ex¬ 
penses of the said office ; appointing all officers of the land 
forces in the service of the United States, excepting regimental 
officers ; appointing all the officers of the naval forces, and com¬ 
missioning all officers whatever in the service of the United 
States; making rules for the government and regulation of the 
said land and naval forces, and directing their operations. 

The United States, in Congress assembled, shall have author¬ 
ity to appoint a committee, to sit in the recess of Congress, to 
be denominated “ A Committee of the States,” and to consist 
of one delegate from each State, and to appoint such other 
committees and civil officers as may be necessary for managing 
the general affairs of the United States under their direction ; 
to appoint one of their number to preside ; provided that no 
person be allowed to serve in the office of president more than 
one year in any term of three years ; to ascertain the necessary 
sums of money to be raised for the service of the United States, 
and to appropriate and apply the same for defraying the public 
expenses ; to borrow money or emit bills on the credit of the 
United States, transmitting every half year to the respective 
States an account of the sums of money so borrowed or emitted; 
to build and equip a navy; to agree upon the number of land 
forces, and to make requisitions from each State for its quota, 
in proportion to the number of white inhabitants in such State, 
which requisition shall be binding ; and thereupon the Legislar 


ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 285 

ture of each State shall appoint the regimental officers, raise the 
men, and clothe, arm, and equip them in a soldier-like manner, 
at the expense of the United States; and the officers and men 
so clothed, armed, and equipped shall march to the place ap¬ 
pointed, and within the time agreed on by the United States, in 
Congress assembled ; but if the United States, in Congress 
assembled, shall, on consideration of circumstances, judge proper 
that any State should not raise men, or should raise a smaller 
number than its quota, and that any other State should raise a 
greater number of men than the quota thereof, such extra num¬ 
ber shall be raised, officered, clothed, armed, and equipped in 
the same manner as the quota of such State, unless the Legis¬ 
lature of such State shall judge that such extra number can¬ 
not be safely spared out of the same, in which case they shall 
raise, officer, elothg, arm, and equip as many of such extra num¬ 
ber as they judge can be safely spared, and the officers and men 
so clothed, armed, and equipped shall march to the place ap¬ 
pointed, and within the time agreed on by the United States, in 
Congress assembled. 

The United States, in Congress assembled, shall never en¬ 
gage in a war, nor grant letters of marque and reprisal in time 
of peace, nor enter into any treaties or alliances, nor coin 
money, nor regulate the value thereof, nor ascertain the sums 
and expenses necessary for the defense and welfare of the 
United States, or any of them, nor emit bills, nor borrow money 
on the credit of the United States, nor appropriate money, nor 
agree upon the number of vessels of war to be built or pur¬ 
chased, or the number of land or sea forces to be raised, nor 
appoint a commander-in-chief of the army or navy, unless nine 
States assent to the same, nor shall a question on any other 
point, except for adjourning from day to day, be determined, 
unless by the votes of a majority of the United States, in Con¬ 
gress assembled. 

The Congress of the United States shall have power to ad¬ 
journ to any time within the year, and to any place within the 
United States, so that no period of adjournment be for a longer 
duration than the space of six months, and shall publish the 
journal of their proceedings monthly, except such parts thereof 
relating to treaties, alliances, or military operations as in their 
judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the dele¬ 
gates of each State, on any question, shall be entered on the 
journal when it is desired by any delegate ; and the delegates 


286 


APPENDIX A. 


of a State, or any of them, at his or their request, shall be fur¬ 
nished with a transcript of the said journal except such parts as 
are above excepted, to lay before the Legislatures of the several 
States. 

Art. X. — The Committee of the States, or any nine of 
them, shall be authorized to execute, in the recess of Congress, 
such of the powers of Congress as the United States, in Con¬ 
gress assembled, by the consent of nine States, shall, from time 
to time, think expedient to vest them with ; provided that no 
power be delegated to the said Committee, for the exercise of 
which, by the Articles of Confederation, the voice of nine States 
in the Congress of the United States assembled is requisite. 

Art. XI. — Canada, acceding to this Confederation, and 
joining in the measures of the United States, shall be admitted 
into, and entitled to all the advantages of this Union ; but no 
other colony shall be admitted into the same, unless such ad¬ 
mission be agreed to by nine States. 

Art. XII. — All bills of credit emitted, moneys borrowed, 
and debts contracted by or under the authority of Congress, be¬ 
fore the assembling of the United States, in pursuance of the 
present Confederation, shall be deemed and considered as a 
charge against the United States, for payment and satisfaction 
whereof the said United States and the public faith are hereby 
solemnly pledged. 

Art. XIII. — Every State shall abide by the determinations 
of the United States, in Congress assembled, on all questions 
which by this Confederation are submitted to them. And the 
Articles of this Confederation shall be inviolably observed by 
every State, and the Union shall be perpetual; nor shall any 
alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them, unless 
such alteration be agreed to in a Congress of the United States, 
and be afterwards confirmed by the Legislatures of every State. 

And whereas it hath pleased the great Governor of the 
world to incline the hearts of the Legislatures we respectively 
represent in Congress to approve of, and to authorize us to 
ratify, the said Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union, 
know ye, that we, the undersigned delegates, by virtue of the 
power and authority to us given for that purpose, do, by these 
presents, in the name and in behalf of our respective constitu¬ 
ents, fully and entirely ratify and confirm each and every of the 
said Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union, and all and 


THE CONSTITUTION. 


287 


singular the matters and things therein contained. And we do 
further solemnly plight and engage the faith of our respective 
constituents, that they shall abide by the determinations of the 
United States, in Congress assembled, on all questions which by 
the said Confederation are submitted to them ; and that the 
Articles thereof shall be inviolably observed by the States we 
respectively represent, and that the Union shall be perpetual. 

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands in Con¬ 
gress. Done at Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania 
the ninth day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand 
seven hundred and seventy-eight, and in the third year of 
the independence of America. 


APPENDIX B. 

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Preamble . 1 

We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more 
perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, pro¬ 
vide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and 
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do 
ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of 
America. 


Article I. Legislative Department . 2 

Section I. Congress in General. 

All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a 
Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate 
and House of Representatives. 

Section II. House of Representatives. 

1 . The House of Representatives shall be composed of mem¬ 
bers chosen every second year by the people of the several 
States, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifica¬ 
tions requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the 
State legislature. 

1 Compare this Preamble with Confed. Art. I. and III. 

2 Compare Art. I.. §§ i.-vii. with Confed- Art- V. 



288 


APPENDIX B. 


2 . No person shall be a Representative who shall not have 
attained the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a 
citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, 
be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. 

3 . Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned 
among the several States which may be included within this 
Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be 
determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, in¬ 
cluding those bound to service for a term of years, and exclud¬ 
ing Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons. The 
actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the 
first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within 
every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they 
shall by law direct. The number of Representatives shall not 
exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have 
at least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall 
be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose 
three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Planta¬ 
tions one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, 
Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, 
North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. 

4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any 
State, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election 
to fill such vacancies. 

5 . The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker 
and other officers, and shall have the sole power of impeach¬ 
ment. 

Section III. Senate. 

1 . The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two 
Senators from each State, chosen by the legislature thereof, for 
six years ; and each Senator shall have one vote. 

2 . Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence 
of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be 
into three classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class 
shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year; of the 
second class, at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the 
third class, at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one third 
may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by 
resignation or otherwise during the recess of the legislature of 
any State, the executive thereof may make temporary appoint¬ 
ments until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then 
fill such vacancies. 


THE CONSTITUTION . 


289 


3. No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained 
to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the 
United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabit¬ 
ant of that State for which he shall be chosen. 

4. The Vice-President of the United States shall be President 
of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally 
divided. 

5. The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a 
President pro tempore in the absence of the Vice-President, or 
when he shall exercise the office of President of the United 
States. 

6. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeach¬ 
ments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or 
affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, 
the Chief Justice shall preside: and no person shall be convicted 
without the concurrence of two thirds of the members present. 

7. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further 
than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and 
enjoy any office of honour, trust, or profit under the United 
States; but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable 
and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, ac¬ 
cording to law. 

Section IV. Both Houses. 

1. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for 
Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State 
by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at anytime 
by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places 
of choosing Senators. 

2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, 
and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, 
unless they shall by law appoint a different day. 

Section V. The Houses Separately. 

1. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and 
qualifications of its own members, ancL a majority of each shall 
constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may 
adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the 
attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such 
penalties, as each house may provide. 

2. Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, 
punish its members for disorderly behaviour, and with the con¬ 
currence of two thirds, expel a member. 


290 


APPENDIX B. 


3. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and 
from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may- 
in their judgment require secrecy, and the yeas and nays of the 
members of either house on any question shall, at the desire of 
one fifth of those present, be entered on the journal. 

4. Neither house, during the session of Congress, shall, with¬ 
out the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, 
nor to any other place than that in which the two houses shall 
be sitting. 

Section VI. Privileges and Disabilities of Members. 

1. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compen¬ 
sation for their services, to be ascertained by law and paid out 
of the Treasury of the United States. They shall, in all cases 
except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged 
from arrest during their attendance at the session of their re¬ 
spective houses, and in going to and returning from the same; 
and for any speech or debate in either house they shall not be 
questioned in any other place. 

2. No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for 
which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the 
authority of the United States, which shall have been created, 
or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during 
such time; and no person holding any office under the United 
States shall be a member of either house during his continuance 
in office. • 

Section VII. Mode of Passing Laws. 

1. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of 
Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with 
amendments as on other bills. 

2. Every bill which shall have passed the House of Repre¬ 
sentatives and the Senate shall, before it become a law, be pre¬ 
sented to the President of the United States; if he approve he 
shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his objections, to 
that house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the 
objections at large on their journal and proceed to reconsider 
it. If after such reconsideration twp thirds of that house shall 
agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objec¬ 
tions, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be recon¬ 
sidered, and if approved by two thirds of that house it shall 
become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both houses 
shall bo determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the 


THE CONSTITUTION. 


291 


persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the 
journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be re¬ 
turned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) 
after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a 
law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress 
by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it 'shall 
not be a law. 

3. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence 
of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary 
(except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the 
President of the United States; and before the same shall take 
effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, 
shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of 
Representatives, according to the rules and limitations pre¬ 
scribed in the case of a bill. 

Section VIII. Powers granted to Congress . 1 

The Congress shall have power : 

1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to 
pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general 
welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts, and ex¬ 
cises shall be uniform throughout the United States; 

2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States; 

3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the 
several States, and with the Indian tribes; 

4. To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uni¬ 
form laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United 
States; 

5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign 
coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures; 

6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the secu¬ 
rities and current coin of the United States; 

7. To establish post-offices and post-roads; 

8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts by se¬ 
curing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive 
right to their respective writings and discoveries; 

9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court; 

10. To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on 
the high seas and offenses against the law of nations; 

1 Compare §§ viii. and ix. with Confed. Art. IX.; clause 1 of § viii. 
with Confed. Art. VIII.; and clause 12 of § viii. with Confed. Art. 

VII. 


292 


APPENDIX B. 


11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and 
make rules concerning captures on land and water; 

12. To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of 
money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years; 

13. To provide and maintain a navy; 

14. To make rules for the government and regulation of the 
land and naval forces. 

15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the 
laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions; 

16. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the 
militia, and for governing such part of them as may be em¬ 
ployed in the service of the United States, reserving to the 
States respectively the appointment of the officers, and the 
authority of training the militia according to the discipline 
prescribed by Congress; 

17. To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever 
over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by 
cession of particular States and the acceptance of Congress, be¬ 
come the seat of the Government of the United States, and to 
exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent 
of the legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for 
the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other 
needful buildings; and 

18. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper 
for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other 
powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the 
United States, or in any department or officer thereof. 1 

Section IX. Powers denied to the United States. 

1. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the 
States now existing shall think proper to admit shall not be pro¬ 
hibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight 
hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such 
importation, not exceeding ten.dollars for each person. 

2. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be sus¬ 
pended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public 
safety may require it. 

3. No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed. 

4. No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in 

1 This is the Elastic Clause in the interpretation of which arose the 
original and fundamental division of political parties. See above, 
pp. 245, 259. 


THE CONSTITUTION. 293 

proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed 
to be taken. 

5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any 
State. 

6. No preference shall be given by any regulation of com¬ 
merce or revenue to the ports of one State over those of an¬ 
other; nor shall vessels bound to or from one State be obliged 
to enter, clear, or pay duties in another. 

7. No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in con¬ 
sequence of appropriations made bylaw; and, a regular state¬ 
ment and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public 
money shall be published from time to time. 

8. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States; 
and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them 
shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, 
emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, 
prince, or foreign State. 

Section X. Powers denied to the States. 1 

1. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confedera¬ 
tion; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit 
bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender 
in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto 
law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any 
title of nobility. 

2. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any 
imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be 
absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws ; and the 
net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any State on im¬ 
ports or exports, shall be for the use of the Treasury of the 
United States ; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision 
and control of the Congress. 

3. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any 
duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, 
enter into any agreement or compact with another State or with 
a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded or in 
such imminent danger as will not admit of delay. 

1 Compare § x. with Confed. Art. VI. 


294 


APPENDIX B. 


Article II. Executive Department . 1 

Section I. President and Vice-President. 

1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the 
United States of America. He shall hold his office during the 
term of four years, and together with the Vice-President, chosen 
for the same term, be elected as follows: 

2. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature 
thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole 
number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may 
be entitled in the Congress ; but no Senator or Representative, 
or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United 
States, shall be appointed an elector. 

3. [The electors shall meet in their respective States and vote 
by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an 
inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall 
make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of 
votes for each ; which list they shall sign and certify, and trans¬ 
mit sealed to the seat of government of the United States, 
directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the 
Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Rep¬ 
resentatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then 
be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes 
shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the 
whole number of electors appointed ; and if there be more than 
one who have such majority, and have an equal number of 
votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately 
choose by ballot one of them for President; and if no person 
have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said 
House shall in like manner choose the President. But in 
choosing the President the votes shall be taken by States, the 
representation from each State having one vote ; a quorum for 
this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two 
thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be 
necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the 
President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the 
electors shall be the Vice-President. But if there should remain 
two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from 
them by ballot the Vice-President.] 2 

1 Compare Art. II. with Confed. Art. X. 

2 This clause of the Constitution has been amended. See Amend¬ 
ments, Art. XII. 


THE CONSTITUTION. 


295 


4. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the 
electors and the day on which they shall give their votes, which 
day shall be the same throughout the United States. 

5. No person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the 
United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, 
shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any 
person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to 
the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident 
within the United States. 

6. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of 
his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and 
duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice- 
President, and the Congress may by law provide for the case of 
removal, death, resignation, or inability, both of the President 
and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall then act as 
President, and such officer shall act accordingly until the dis¬ 
ability be removed or a President shall be elected. 

7. The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services 
a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished 
during the period for which he may have been elected, and he 
shall not receive within that period any other emolument from 
the United States or any of them. 

8. Before he enter on the execution of his office he shall take 
the following oath or affirmation : 

“ I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute 
the office of President of the United States, and will to the best 
of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of 
the United States.” 

Section II. Powers of the President. 

1. The President shall be Commander-in-chief of the Army 
and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several 
States when called into the actual service of the United States ; 
he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in 
each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to 
the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to 
grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United 
States, except in cases of impeachment. 

2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent 
of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Sen¬ 
ators present concur ; and he shall nominate, and, by and with 
the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassa- 


296 


APPENDIX B. 


dors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme 
Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appoint¬ 
ments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall 
be established by law ; but the Congress may by law vest the 
appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in 
the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of de¬ 
partments. 

3. The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that 
mav happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting com¬ 
missions which shall expire at the end of their next session. 

Section III. Duties of the President. 

He shall from time to time give to the Congress information 
of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration 
such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he 
may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both houses, or either 
of them, and in case of disagreement between them with re¬ 
spect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to 
such time as he shall think proper ; he shall receive ambassa¬ 
dors and other public ministers ; he shall take care that the 
laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers 
of the United States. 

Section IV. Impeachment. 

The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of the 
United States shall be removed from office on impeachment 
for and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and 
misdemeanors. 

Article III. Judicial Department . 1 

Section I. United States Courts. 

The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in 
one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress 
may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both 
of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices dur¬ 
ing good behaviour, and shall, at stated times, receive for their 
services a compensation which shall not be diminished during 
their continuance in office. 

1 Compare Art. III. with the first three paragraphs of Confed. 
Art. IX. 



THE CONSTITUTION. 


297 


Section II. Jurisdiction of the United States Courts. 

1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and 
equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United 
States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their 
authority ; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public minis¬ 
ters, and consuls ; to all cases of admiralty and maritime juris¬ 
diction ; to controversies to which the United States shall be a 
party; to controversies between two or more States; between a 
State and citizens of another State ; between citizens of differ¬ 
ent States ; between citizens of the same State claiming lands 
under grants of different States, and between a State, or the citi¬ 
zens thereof, and foreign States, citizens, or subjects. 1 

2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers 
and consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party, the Su¬ 
preme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other 
cases before mentioned the Supreme Court shall have appellate 
jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and 
under such regulations as the Congress shall make. 

3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, 
shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the State where 
the said crimes shall have been committed ; but when not com¬ 
mitted within any State, the trial shall be at such place or places 
as the Congress may by law have directed. 

Section III. Treason. 

1. Treason against the United States shall consist only in 
levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving 
them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason 
unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, 
or on confession in open court. 

2. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment 
of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of 
blood or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted. 

Article IV. The States and the Federal Govern¬ 
ment . 2 

Section I. State Records. 

Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public 

1 This clause has been amended. See Amendments, Art. XI. 

2 Compare Art. IV. with Confed Art. IV. 


298 


APPENDIX B. 


acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. 
And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in 
which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and 
the effect thereof. 

Section II. Privileges of Citizens , etc. 

1. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges 
and immunities of citizens in the several States. 

2. A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or 
other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another 
State, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State 
from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State 
having jurisdiction of the crime. 

3. No person held to service or labour in one State, under the 
laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any 
law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or 
labour, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom 
such service or labour may be due. 1 

Section III. New States and Territories . 2 

1. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this 
Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the 
jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the 
junction of two or more States or parts of States, without the 
consent of the legislatures of the States concerned as well as of 
the Congress. 

2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all 
needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other 
property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this 
Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of 
the United States or of any particular State. 

Section IV. Guarantee to the States. 

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this 
Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each 
of them against invasion, and on application of the legislature, 
or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened), 
against domestic violence. 

1 This clause has been cancelled by Amendment XIII., which abol¬ 
ishes slavery. 

2 Compare § iii. with Confed. Art. XI. 


THE CONSTITUTION. 


299 


Article V. Power of Amendment . 1 

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem 
it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, 
on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several 
States, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which 
in either case shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part 
of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three 
fourths of the several States, or by conventions in three fourths 
thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be pro¬ 
posed by the Congress, provided that no amendments which 
may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and 
eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in 
the ninth section of the first article; and that no State, without 
its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate. 

Article VI. Public Debt, Supremacy of the Consti¬ 
tution, Oath of Office, Religious Test. 

1. All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before 
the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the 
United States under .this Constitution as under the confedera¬ 
tion. 2 

2. This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which 
shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or 
which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, 
shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every 
State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or 
laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding. 

3. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and 
the members of the several State legislatures, and all executive 
and judicial officers both of the United States and of the several 
States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this 
Constitution ; but no religious test shall ever be required as 
a qualification to any office or public trust under the United 
States. 8 

Article VII. Ratification of the Constitution. 

The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be 

1 Compare Art. V. with Confed. Art. XIII. 

2 Compare clause 1 with Confed. Art. XII. 

3 Compare clauses 2 and 3 with Confed. Art. XIII. and addendum, 
“And whereas/' etc. 


300 


APPENDIX B. 


sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the 
States so ratifying the same. 

Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the States 
present, 1 the seventeenth day of September, in the year of 
our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, 
and of the Independence of the United States of America 
the twelfth. In witness whereof, we have hereunto sub¬ 
scribed our names. 

George Washington, President, and Deputy from Virginia. 
New Hampshire — John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman. 
Massachusetts — Nathaniel Gorham, llufus King. 
Connecticut — William Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman. 
New York — Alexander Hamilton. 

New Jersey — William Livingston, David Brearly, William 
Patterson, Jonathan Dayton. 

Pennsylvania — Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert 
Morris, George Clymer, Thomas Fitzsimons, Jared Ingersoll, 
James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris. 

Delaware —George Read, Gunning Bedford, Jr., John Dick¬ 
inson, Richard Bassett, Jacob Broom. 

Maryland — James McHenry, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, 
Daniel Carroll. 

Virginia — John Blair, James Madison, Jr. 

North Carolina — William Blount, Richard Dobbs Spaight, 
Hugh Williamson. 

South Carolina — John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinck¬ 
ney, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler. 

Georgia — William Few, Abraham Baldwin. 

Attest: William Jackson, Secretary. 


AMENDMENTS. 2 

Article I. 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of 
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging 
the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people 

1 Rhode Island sent no delegates to the Federal Convention. 

2 Amendments I. to X. were proposed by Congress, Sept. 25, 1789, 
and declared in force Dec. 15, 1791. 





THE CONSTITUTION. 301 

peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a 
redress of grievances. 

Article II. 

A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a 
free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall 
not be infringed. 

Article III. 

No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house 
without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a 
manner to be prescribed by law. 

Article IV. 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, 
papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, 
shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon prob¬ 
able cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly 
describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to 
be seized. 

Article V. 

No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise 
infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a 
grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, 
or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public 
danger ; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to 
be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall be compelled 
in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be de¬ 
prived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ; 
nor shall private property be taken for public use without just 
compensation. 

Article VI. 

In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right 
to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial, jury of the state 
and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, 
which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, 
and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation ; 
to be confronted with the witnesses against him ; to have com¬ 
pulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favour, and to have 
the assistance of counsel for his defence. 

Article VII. 

In suits at common law, where the value iu controversy shall 


802 


APPENDIX B. 


exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be pre¬ 
served, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexam¬ 
ined in any court of the United States, than according to the 
rules of the common law. 

Article VIII. 

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines im 
posed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 

Article IX. 

The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall 
not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the 
people. 

Article X. 1 

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Con¬ 
stitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the 
States respectively or to the people. 

Article XI. 2 

The judicial power of the United States shall not be con¬ 
strued to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or 
prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of 
another State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign State. 

Article XII. 8 

1. The electors shall meet in their respective States and vote 
by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at 
least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with them¬ 
selves ; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as 
President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice- 
President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted 
for as President and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, 
and of the number of votes for each ; which lists they shall sign 
and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government 
of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. 
The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate 
and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the 

1 Compare Amendment X. with Confed. Art. II. 

2 Proposed by Congress March 5, 1794, and declared in force Jan. 
8, 1798. 

8 Proposed by Congress Dec. 12, 1803, and declared in force Sept, 
25, 1804. 


THE CONSTITUTION. 


303 

votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest 
number of votes for President shall be the President, if such 
number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; 
and if no person have such majority, then from the persons hav¬ 
ing the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those 
voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall 
choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing 
the President the votes shall be taken by States, the represen¬ 
tation from each State having one vote; a quorum for this pur¬ 
pose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of 
the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to 
a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose 
a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon 
them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the 
Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death 
or other constitutional disability of the President. 

2. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice- 
President shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a ma¬ 
jority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no 
person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on 
the list the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum 
for the purpose shall consist of two thirds of the whole number 
of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be neces¬ 
sary to a choice. 

3. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of 
President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the 
United States. 


Article XIII. 1 

1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a 
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly 
convicted, shall exist, within the United States or any place 
subject to their jurisdiction. 

2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appro¬ 
priate legislation. 

Article XIV. 2 

1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and 

1 Proposed by Congress Feb. 1, 1865, and declared in force Dec. 
18, 1865. 

2 Proposed by Congress June 16, 1866, and declared in force July 
28, 1868. 


304 


'APPENDIX B. 


subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United 
States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall 
make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or 
immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any 
State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without 
due process of law ; nor deny to any person within its jurisdic¬ 
tion the equal protection of the laws. 

2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several 
States according to their respective numbers, counting the 
whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not 
taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the 
choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United 
States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial 
officers of a State, or the members of the legislature thereof, is 
denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being 
twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in 
any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other 
crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in 
the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall 
bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of 
age in such State. 

3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Con¬ 
gress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any 
office, civil or military, under the United States or under any 
State, who, having previously taken an oath as a member of 
Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member 
of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of 
any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, 
shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the 
same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But 
Congress may, by a vote of two thirds of each house, remove 
such disability. 

4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, au¬ 
thorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pen¬ 
sions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or 
rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United 
States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation 
incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United 
States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; 
but all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal 
and void. 

5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate 
legislation, the provisions of this article. 


THE CONSTITUTION . 


305 


Article XV. 1 

1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not 

be denied or abridged by the United States or by any on 

account of race, colour, or previous condition of servitude. 

2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation. 


FRANKLIN’S SPEECH ON THE LAST DAY OF 
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. 2 

Monday, September 17. In Convention — The engrossed 
Constitution being read, Doctor Franklin rose with a speech in 
his hand, which he had reduced to writing for his own con¬ 
venience, and which Mr. Wilson read in the words following: 

“Mr. President: I confess that there are several parts of 
this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not 
sure I shall never approve them. For, having lived long, I have 
experienced many instances of being obliged by better informa¬ 
tion, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on impor¬ 
tant subjects which I once thought right, but found to bo 
otherwise. It is therefore that, the older I grow, the more apt 
I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to 
the judgment of others. Most men, indeed, as well as most 
sects in religion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and 
that wherever others differ from them it is so far error. Steele, 
a Protestant, in a dedication tells the Pope that the only differ¬ 
ence between our churches, in their opinions of the certainty of 
their doctrines, is, ‘ the Church of Rome is infallible, and the 
Church of England is never in the wrong.’ But though many 
private persons think almost as highly of their own infallibility 
as of that of their sect, few express it so naturally as a certain 
French lady who, in a dispute with her sister, said, ‘ I don’t know 
how it happens, sister, but I meet with nobody but myself that 
is always in the right — il n'y a que moi qui a toujours raison .’ 
In these sentiments, sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its 

1 Proposed by Congress Feb. 26, 1869, and declared in force March 
30, 1870. 

2 From Madison’s Journal, in Eliot’s Debates, vol. v. p. 554. 



306 


APPENDIX B. 


faults, if they are such, because I think a General Government 
necessary for us, and there is no form of government but what 
may be a blessing to the people if well administered; and believe 
further, that this is likely to be well administered for a course 
of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have 
done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to 
need despotic government, being incapable of any other. I 
doubt, too, whether any other Convention we can obtain may be 
able to make a better Constitution. For when you assemble a 
number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you 
inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices, their 
passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their 
selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production 
be expected? It, therefore, astonishes me, sir, to find this sys¬ 
tem approaching so near to perfection as it does: and I think it 
will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear 
that our councils are confounded, like those of the builders of 
Babel, and that our States are on the point of separation, only to 
meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another’s throats. 
Thus I consent, sir, to this Constitution because I expect no bet¬ 
ter, and because I am not sure that it is not the best. The opin¬ 
ions I have had of its errors I sacrifice to the public good. I have 
never whispered a syllable of them abroad. Within these walls 
they were born and here they shall die. If every one of us, in 
returning to our constituents, were to report the objections he 
has had to it, and endeavour to gain partisans in support of them, 
we might prevent its being generally received, and thereby lose 
all the salutary effects and great advantages resulting naturally 
in our favour among foreign nations as well as among ourselves, 
from our real or apparent unanimity. Much of the strength 
and efficiency of any government, in procuring and securing 
happiness to the people, depends on opinion — on the general 
opinion of the goodness of the government as well as of the wis¬ 
dom and integrity of its governors. I hope, therefore, that for 
our own sakes, as a part of the people, and for the sake of pos¬ 
terity, we shall act heartily and unanimously in recommending 
this Constitution (if approved by Congress and confirmed by the 
Conventions) wherever our influence may extend, and turn our 
future thoughts and endeavours to the means of having it well 
administered. On the whole, sir, I cannot help expressing a 
wish that every member of the Convention who may still have 
objections to it would, with me, on this occasion doubt a little oi 


THE CONSTITUTION. 307 

his own infallibility, and, to make manifest our unanimity, put 
his name to this instrument.” 

He then moved that the Constitution be signed by the mem¬ 
bers, and offered the following as a convenient form, viz.: 
“ Done in Convention by the unanimous consent of the States 
present the seventeenth of September, etc. In witness whereof 
we have hereunto subscribed our names.” This ambiguous form 
had been drawn up by Mr. Gouverneur Morris, in order to 
gain the dissenting members, and put into the hands of Doctor 
Franklin, that it might have the better chance of success. 
[Considerable discussion followed, Randolph and Gerry stating 
their reasons for refusing to si^n the Constitution. Mr. Hamil- 
ton expressed his anxiety that every member should sign. A 
few characters of consequence, he said, by opposing or even re¬ 
fusing to sign the Constitution, might do infinite mischief by 
kindling the latent sparks that lurk under an enthusiasm in 
favour of the Convention which may soon subside. No man’s 
ideas were more remote from the plan than his own were known 
to be; but is it possible to deliberate between anarchy and con¬ 
vulsion on one side, and the chance of good to be expected 
from the plan on the other? This* discussion concluded, the 
Convention voted that its journal and other papers should be 
retained by the President, subject to the order of Congress.] 
The members then proceeded to sign the Constitution as finally 
amended. The Constitution being signed by all the members 
except Mr. Randolph, Mr. Mason, and Mr. Gerry, who declined 
giving it the sanction of their names, the Convention dissolved 
itself by an adjournment sine die. 

Whilst the last members were signing, Doctor Franklin, look¬ 
ing towards the President’s chair, at the back of which a rising 
sun happened to be painted, observed to a few members near 
him that painters had found it difficult to distinguish in their 
art a rising from a setting sun. I have, said he, often and often, 
in the course of the session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and 
fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the President without 
being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now, at 
length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising, and not 
a setting, sud. 


808 


APPENDIX C. 


APPENDIX C. 

MAGNA CHARTA, 1 

Or the Great Charter of King John, granted June 15, a. d 

1215. 

John, by the Grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ire¬ 
land, Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, to his 
Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Earls, Barons, Justiciaries, For¬ 
esters, Sheriffs, Governors, Officers, and to all Bailiffs, and his 
faithful subjects, greeting. Know ye, that we, in the presence 
of God, and for the salvation of our soul, and the souls of all 
our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honour of God and the 
advancement of Holy Church, and amendment of our Realm, 
by advice of our venerable Fathers, Stephen, Archbishop of 
Canterbury, Primate of all England and Cardinal of the Holy 
Roman Church : Henry, Archbishop of Dublin ; William, of 
London; Peter, of Winchester; Jocelin of Bath and Glaston¬ 
bury; Hugh, of Lincoln; Walter, of Worcester; William, of 
Coventry : Benedict, of Rochester — Bishops : of Master Pan- 
dulph, Sub-Deacon and Familiar of our Lord the Pope ; Brother 
Aymeric, Master of the Knights-Templars in England; and of 
the noble Persons, William Marescall, Earl of Pembroke ; Wil¬ 
liam, Earl of Salisbury ; William, Earl of Warren ; William, 
Earl of Arundel; Alan de Galloway, Constable of Scotland; 
Warin FitzGerald, Peter FitzHerbert and Hubert de Burgh, 
Seneschal of Poitou; Hugh de Neville, Matthew FitzHerbert, 
Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip of Albiney, Robert de Rop- 
pell, John Mareschal, John Fitz Hugh, and others, our liegemen, 
have, in the first place, granted to God, and by this our present 
Charter confirmed, for us and our heirs for ever: — 

1. That the Church of England shall be free, and have her 
whole rights, and her liberties inviolable ; and we will have 
them so observed, that it may appear thence that the freedom 
of elections, which is reckoned chief and indispensable to the 
English Church, and which we granted and confirmed by our 
Charter, and obtained the confirmation of the same from our 
Lord the Pope Innocent III., before the discord between us and 
our barons, was granted of mere free will; which Charter we 

1 I have, by permission, reproduced the Old South Leaflet , with its 
notes, etc., in full. 



MAGNA CHARTA. 


309 


shall observe, and we do will it to be faithfully observed by our 
heirs for ever. 

2. We also have granted to all the freemen of our kingdom, 
for us and for our heirs for ever, ail the underwritten liberties, to 
be had and holden by them and their heirs, of us and our heirs 
for ever : If any of our earls, or barons, or others, who hold of 
as in chief by military service, shall die, and at the time of his 
death his heir shall be of full age, and owe a relief, he shall have 
his inheritance by the ancient relief — that is to say, the heir or 
heirs of an earl, for a whole earldom, by a hundred pounds ; the 
heir or heirs of a baron, for a whole barony, by a hundred 
pounds ; the heir or heirs of a knight, for a whole knight’s fee, 
by a hundred shillings at most; and whoever oweth less shall 
give less, according to the ancient custom of fees. 

3. But if the heir of any such shall be under age, and shall 
be in ward, when he comes of age he shall have his inheritance 
without relief and without fine. 

4. The keeper of the land of such an heir being under age, 
shall take of the land of the heir none but reasonable issues, 
reasonable customs, and reasonable services, and that without 
destruction and waste of his men and his goods ; and if we 
commit the custody of any such lands to the sheriff, or any 
other who is answerable to us for the issues of the land, and he 
shall make destruction and waste of the lands which he hath in 
custody, we will take of him amends, and the land shall be 
committed to two lawful and discreet men of that fee, who shall 
answer for the issues to us, or to him to whom we shall assign 
them; and if we sell or give to any one the custody of any such 
lands, and he therein make destruction or waste, he shall lose 
the same custody, which shall be committed to two lawful and 
discreet men of that fee, who shall in like manner answer to us 
as aforesaid. 

5. But the keeper, so long as he shall have the custody of the 
land, shall keep up the houses, parks, warrens, ponds, mills, and 
other things pertaining to the land, out of the issues of the same 
land ; and shall deliver to the heir, when he comes of full age, 
his whole land, stocked with ploughs and carriages, according as 
the time of wainage shall require, and the issues of the land can 
reasonably bear. 

6. Heirs shall be married without disparagement, and so that 
before matrimony shall be contracted, those who are near in 
blood to the heir shall have notice. 


310 


APPENDIX C. 


7. A widow, after the death of her husband, shall forthwith 
and without difficulty have her marriage and inheritance; nor 
shall she give anything for her dower, or her marriage, or her 
inheritance, which her husband and she held at the day of his 
death; and she may remain in the mansion house of her hus¬ 
band forty days after his death, within which time her dower 
shall be assigned. 

8. No widow shall be distrained to marry herself, so long as 
she has a mind to live without a husband ; but yet she shall give 
security that she will not marry without our assent, if she hold 
of us ; or without the consent of the lord of whom she holds, if 
she hold of another. 

9. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall seize any land or rent for 
any debt so long as the chattels of the debtor are sufficient to 
pay the debt; nor shall the sureties of the debtor be distrained 
so long as the principal debtor has sufficient to pay the debt; 
and if the principal debtor shall fail in the payment of the debt, 
not having wherewithal to pay it, then the sureties shall answer 
the debt; and if they will they shall have the lands and rents of 
the debtor, until they shall be satisfied for the debt which they 
paid for him, unless the principal debtor can show himself ac¬ 
quitted thereof against the said sureties. 

10. If any one have borrowed anything of the Jews, more or 
less, and die before the debt be satisfied, there shall be no inter¬ 
est paid for that debt, so long as the heir is under age, of whom¬ 
soever he may hold ; and if the debt falls into our hands, we 
will only take the chattel mentioned in the deed. 

11. And if any one shall die indebted to the Jews, his wife 
shall have her dower and pay nothing of that debt; and if the 
deceased left children under age, they shall have necessaries 
provided for them, according to the tenement of the deceased ; 
and out of the residue the debt shall be paid, saving, however, 
the service due to the lords, and in like manner shall it be done 
touching debts due to others than the Jews. 

12. No scutage or aid 1 shall be imposed in our kingdom ,, unless 
by the general council of our kingdom ; except for ransoming our 
person, making our eldest son a knight, and once for marrying 

1 In the time of the feudal system scutage was a direct tax in com¬ 
mutation for military service; aids were direct taxes paid by the 
tenant to his lord for ransoming his person if taken captive, and for 
helping defray the expenses of knighting his eldest son and marrying 
bis eldest daughter. 


MAGNA CHART A. 


311 


our eldest daughter; and for these there shall be paid no more 
than a reasonable aid. In like manner it shall be concerning 
the aids of the City of London. 

13. And the City of London shall have all its ancient liberties 
and free customs, as well by land as by water : furthermore, we 
will and grant that all other cities and boroughs, and towns and 
ports, shall have all their liberties and free customs. 

14. And, for holding the general council of the kingdom con¬ 
cerning the assessment of aids, except in the three cases aforesaid , 
and for the assessing of scutages , we shall cause to be summoned the 
archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, ami greater barons of the realm , 
singly by our letters. And furthermore, we shall cause to be sum¬ 
moned generally, by our sheriffs and bailiffs, all others who hold of 
us in chief, for a certain day, that is to say, forty days before their 
meeting at least, and to a certain place; and in all letters of such 
summons we will declare the cause of such summons. And sum¬ 
mons being thus made, the business shall proceed on the day ap¬ 
pointed, according to the advice of such as shall be present, 
although all that were summoned come not. 

15. We will not for the future grant to any one that he may 
take aid of his own free tenants, unless to ransom his body, 
and to make his eldest son a knight, and once to marry his 
eldest daughter ; and for this there shall be only paid a reason¬ 
able aid. 

16. No man shall be distrained to perform more service for a 
knight’s fee, or other free tenement, than is due from thence. 

17. Common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be 
holden in some place certain. 

18. Trials upon the Writs of Novel Disseisin, 1 and of Mort 
d’ancestor, 2 and of Darrein Presentment, 8 shall not be taken 
but in their proper counties, and after this manner : We, or if 
we should be out of the realm, our chief justiciary, will send 
two justiciaries through every county four times a year, who, 
with four knights of each county, chosen by the county, shall 
hold the said assizes 4 in the county, on the day, and at the place 
appointed. 

1 Dispossession. 

2 Death of the ancestor; that is, in cases of disputed succession to 
land. 

3 Last presentation to a benefice. 

4 The word Assize here means “an assembly of knights or other 
substantial persons, held at a certain time aud place where they sit 


812 


APPENDIX C. 


19. And if any matters cannot be determined on the day ap¬ 
pointed for holding the assizes in each county, so many of the 
knights and freeholders as have been at the assizes aforesaid shall 
stay to decide them as is necessary, according as there is more 
or less business. 

20. A freeman shall not be amerced for a small offence, but 
only according to the degree of the offence ; and for a great 
crime according to the heinousness of it, saving to him his con- 
tenement; 1 and after the same manner a merchant, saving to 
him his merchandise. And a villein shall be amerced after the 
same manner, saving to him his wainage, if he falls under our 
mercy ; and none of the aforesaid amerciaments shall be assessed 
but by the oath of honest men in the neighbourhood. 

21. Earls and barons shall not be amerced but by their peers, 
and after the degree of the offence. 

22. No ecclesiastical person shall be amerced for his lay 
tenement, but according to the proportion of the others afore¬ 
said, and not according to the value of his ecclesiastical bene¬ 
fice. 

23. Neither a town nor any tenant shall be distrained to make 
bridges or embankments, unless that anciently and of right they 
are bound to do it. 

24. No sheriff, constable, coroner, or other our bailiffs, shall 
hold “ Pleas of the Crown.” 2 

25. All counties, hundreds, wapentakes, and trethings, shall 
stand at the old rents, without any increase, except in our 
demesne manors. 

26. If any one holding of us a lay fee die, and the sheriff, or 
our bailiffs, show our letters patent of summons for debt which 
the dead man did owe to us, it shall be lawful for the sheriff or 
our bailiff to attach and register the chattels of the dead, found 
upon his lay fee, to the amount of the debt, by the view of law¬ 
ful men, so as nothing be removed until our whole clear debt be 
paid ; and the rest shall be left to the executors to fulfil the tes¬ 
tament of the dead ; and if there be nothing due from him to 

with the Justice. ‘Assisa’ or ‘Assize’is also taken for the court, 
place, or time at which the writs of Assize are taken.”— Thompson's 
Notes. 

1 “ That by which a person subsists and which is essential to his 
rank in life.” 

2 These are suits conducted in the name of the Crown against crim¬ 
inal offenders. 


MAGNA CHARTA. 313 

us, all the chattels shall go to the use of the dead, saving to his 
wife and children their reasonable shares. 1 

27. If any freeman shall die intestate, his chattels shall be 
distributed by the hands of his nearest relations and friends, by 
view of the Church, saving to every one his debts which the 
deceased owed to him. 

28. No constable or bailiff of ours shall take corn or other 
chattels of any man unless he presently give him money for it, 
or hath respite of payment by the good-will of the seller. 

29. No constable shall distrain any knight to give money for 
castle-guard, if he himself will do it in his person, or by another 
able man, in case he cannot do it through any reasonable cause. 
And if we have carried or sent him into the army, he shall be 
free from such guard for the time he shall be in the army by our 
command. 

30. No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or any other, shall take 
horses or carts of any freeman for carriage, without the assent 
of the said freeman. 

31. Neither shall we nor our bailiffs take any man’s timber 
for our castles or other uses, unless by the consent of the owner 
of the timber. 

32. We will retain the lands of those convicted of felony only 
one year and a day, and then they shall be delivered to the lord 
of the fee. 2 * * * * * 

33. All kydells 8 (wears) for the time to come shall be put 
down in the rivers of Thames and Medway, and throughout all 
England, except upon the sea-coast. 

1 A person’s goods were divided into three parts, of which one went 
to his wife, another to his heirs, and a third he was at liberty to dis¬ 
pose of. If he had no child, his widow had half; and if he had chil¬ 
dren, but no wife, half was divided amongst them. These several 
sums were called “ reasonable shares.” Through the testamentary 
jurisdiction they gradually acquired, the clergy often contrived to get 
into their own hands all the residue of the estate without paying the 
debts of the estate. 

2 All forfeiture for felony has been abolished by the 33 and 34 Vic., 

C. 23. It seems to have originated in the destruction of the felon’s 

property being part of the sentence, and this “waste” being com¬ 

muted for temporary possession by the Crown. 

8 The purport of this was to prevent inclosures of common prop¬ 

erty, or committing a “ Purpresture/' These wears are now called 

“ kettles ” or “ kettle-nets ” in Kent and Cornwall. 


314 


APPENDIX C. 


34. The writ which is called praecipe, for the future, shall not 
be made out to any one, of any tenement, whereby a freeman 
may lose his court. 

35. There shall be one measure of wine and one of ale through 
our whole realm ; and one measure of corn, that is to say, the 
London quarter; and one breadth of dyed cloth, and russets, and 
haberjeets, that is to say, two ells within the lists ; and it shall 
be of weights as it is of measures. 

36. Nothing from henceforth shall he given or taken for a writ 
of inquisition of life or limb, but it shall be granted freely , and 
not denied . 1 

37. If any do hold of us by fee-farm, or by socage, or by bur¬ 
gage, and he hold also lands of any other by knight’s service, 
we will not have the custody of the heir or land, which is holden 
of another man’s fee by reason of that fee-farm, socage, 2 or bur¬ 
gage; neither will we have the custody of the fee-farm, or socage, 
or burgage, unless knight’s service was due to us out of the same 
fee-farm. We will not have the custody of an heir, nor of any 
land which he holds of another by knight’s service, by reason of 
any petty serjeanty 3 by which he holds of us, by the service of 
paying a knife, an arrow, or the like. 

38. No bailiff from henceforth shall put any man to his law 4 
upon his own bare saying, without credible witnesses to prove it. 

39. No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or disseised , or 
outlawed, or banished , or any toays destroyed, nor will we pass 
upon him , nor will we send upon him, unless by the lawful judg¬ 
ment of his peers, or by the law of the land. 

40. We will sell to no man, we will not deny to any man, either 
justice or right. 

41. All merchants shall have safe and secure conduct, to go 

1 This important writ, or “ writ concerning hatred and malice,” 
may have been the prototype of the writ of habeas corpus , and was 
granted for a similar purpose. 

2 “Socage” signifies lands held by tenure of performing certain 
inferior offices in husbandry, probably from the old French word soc, 
a plough-share. 

3 The tenure of giving the king some small weapon of war in 
acknowledgment of lands held. 

4 Equivalent to putting him to his oath. This alludes to the 
Wager of Law, by which a defendant and his eleven supporters or 
“compurgators” could swear to his non-liability, and this amounted 
to a verdict in his favour. 


MAGNA CHART A. 


315 


out of, and to come into England, and to stay there and to pass 
as well by land as by water, for buying and selling by the 
ancient and allowed customs, without any unjust tolls; except 
in time of war, or when they are of any nation at war with us. 
And if there be found any such in our land, in the beginning of 
the war, they shall be attached, without damage to their bodies 
or goods, until it be known unto us, or our chief justiciary, 
how our merchants be treated in the nation at war with us; and 
if ours be safe there, the others shall be safe in our dominions. 

42. It shall be lawful, for the time to come, for any one to go 
out of our kingdom, and return safely and securely by land or 
by water, saving his allegiance to us; unless in time of war, by 
some short space, for the common benefit of the realm, except 
prisoners and outlaws, according to the law of the land, and 
people in war with us, and merchants who shall be treated as is 
above mentioned. 1 

43. If any man hold of any escheat, 2 * * * * * as of the honour of Wal¬ 
lingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other escheats 

.which be in our hands, and are baronies, and die, his heir shall 
give no other relief, and perform no other service to us than he 
would to the baron, if it were in the baron’s hand; and we will 
hold it after the same manner as the baron held it. 

44. Those men who dwell without the forest from henceforth 
shall not come before our justiciaries of the forest, upon com¬ 
mon summons, but such as are impleaded, or are sureties for 
any that are attached for something concerning the forest. 8 

45. We will not make any justices, constables, sheriffs, or 
bailiffs, but of such as know the law of the realm and mean 
duly to observe it. 

46. All barons who have founded abbeys, which they hold by 
charter from the kings of England, or by ancient tenure, shall 
have the keeping of them, when vacant, as they ought tc have. 

1 The Crown has still technically the power of confining subjects 
within the kingdom by the writ “ ne exeat regno,” though the use of 
the writ is rarely resorted to. 

2 The word escheat is derived from the French escheoir, to return 

or happen, and signifies the return of an estate to a lord, either on 

failure of tenant’s issue or on his committing felony. The abolition 

of feudal tenures by the Act of Charles II. (12 Charles II. c. 24) 

rendered obsolete this part and many other parts of the Charter. 

8 The laws for regulating the royal forests, and administering jus¬ 

tice in respect of offences committed in their precincts, formed a large 
part of the law. 


316 


APPENDIX C. 


47. All forests that have been made forests in our time shall 
forthwith be disforested; and the same shall be done with the 
water-banks that have been fenced in by us in our time. 

48. All evil customs concerning forests, warrens, foresters, 
and warreners, sheriffs and their officers, water-banks and their 
keepers, shall forthwith be inquired into in each county, by 
twelve sworn knights of the same county, chosen by creditable 
persons of the same county; and within forty days after the said 
inquest be utterly abolished, so as never to be restored: so as 
we are first acquainted therewith, or our justiciary, if we should 
not be in England. 

49. We will immediately give up all hostages and charters 
delivered unto us by our English subjects, as securities for their 
keeping the peace, and yielding us faithful service. 

50. We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks the rela¬ 
tions of Gerard de Atheyes, so that for the future they shall 
have no bailiwick in England; we will also remove Engelard de 
Cygony, Andrew, Peter, and Gyon, from the Chancery; Gyon 
de Cygony, Geoffrey de Martyn, and his brothers; Philip Mark, 
and his brothers, and his nephew, Geoffrey, and their whole 
retinue. 

51. As soon as peace is restored, we will send out of the 
kingdom all foreign knights, cross-bowmen, and stipendiaries, 
who are come with horses and arms to the molestation of our 
people. 

52. If any one has been dispossessed or deprived by us, with¬ 
out the lawful judgment of his peers, of his lands, castles, liber¬ 
ties, or right, we will forthwith restore them to him; and if any 
dispute arise upon this head, let the matter be decided by the 
five-and-twenty barons hereafter mentioned, for the preservation 
of the peace. And for all those things of which any person has, 
without the lawful judgment of his peers, been dispossessed or 
deprived, either by our father King Henry, or our brother King 
Richard, and which we have in our hands, or are possessed by 
others, and we are bound to warrant and make good, we shall 
have a respite till the term usually allowed the crusaders; ex¬ 
cepting those things about which there is a plea depending, or 
whereof an inquest hath been made, by our order before we 
undertook the crusade ; but as soon as we return from our expe¬ 
dition, or if perchance we tarry at home and do not make our 
expedition, we will immediately cause full justice to be adminis¬ 
tered therein. 


MAGNA CHART A. 


817 


53. The same respite we shall have, and in the same manner, 
about administering justice, disafforesting or letting continue 
the forests, which Henry our father, and our brother Richard, 
have afforested ; and the same concerning the wardship of the 
lands which are in another’s fee, but the wardship of which we 
have hitherto had, by reason of a fee held of us by knight’s ser¬ 
vice ; and for the abbeys founded in any other fee than our own, 
in which the lord of the fee says he has a right; and when we 
return from our expedition, or if we tarry at home, and do not 
make our expedition, we will immediately do full justice to all 
the complainants in this behalf. 

54. No man shall be taken or imprisoned upon the appeal 1 of 
a woman, for the death of any other than her husband. 

55. All unjust and illegal fines made by us, and all amercia¬ 
ments imposed unjustly and contrary to the law of the land, 
shall be entirely given up, or else be left to the decision of the 
five-and-twenty barons hereafter mentioned for the preservation 
of the peace, or of the major part of them, together with the 
aforesaid Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be pres¬ 
ent, and others whom he shall think fit to invite ; and if he can¬ 
not be present, the business shall notwithstanding go on without 
him; but so that if one or more of the aforesaid five-and-twenty 
barons be plaintiffs in the same cause, they shall be set aside as 
to what concerns this particular affair, and others be chosen in 
their room, out of the said five-and-twenty, and sworn by the 
rest to decide the matter. 

56. If we have disseised or dispossessed the Welsh of any 
lands, liberties, or other things, without the legal judgment of 
their peers, either in England or in Wales, they shall be imme¬ 
diately restored to them ; and if any dispute arise upon this 
head, the matter shall be determined in the Marches by the 
judgment of their peers ; for tenements in England according 
to the law of England, for tenements in Wales according to the 
law of Wales, for tenements of the Marches according to the 
law of the Marches : the same shall the Welsh do to us and our 
subjects. 

1 An Appeal here means an “ accusation.” The appeal here men¬ 
tioned was a suit for a penalty in which the plaintiff was a relation 
who had suffered through a murder or manslaughter. One of the in¬ 
cidents of this “ Appeal of Death ” was the Trial by Battle. These 
Appeals and Trial by Battle were not abolished before the passing of 
the Act 59 Geo. III., c. 46. 


318 


APPENDIX C. 


57. As for all those things of which a Welshman hath, with¬ 
out the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or deprived 
of by King Henry our father, or our brother King Richard, and 
which we either have in our hands or others are possessed of, 
and we are obliged to warrant it, we shall have a respite till 
the time generally allowed the crusaders ; excepting those 
things about which a suit is depending, or whereof an inquest 
has been made by our order, before we undertook the crusade i 
but when we return, or if we stay at home without perform¬ 
ing our expedition, we will immediately do them full justice, 
according to the laws of the Welsh and of the parts before 
mentioned. 

58. We will without delay dismiss the son of Llewellin, and 
all the Welsh hostages, and release them from the engagements 
they have entered into with us for the preservation of the 
peace. 

59. We will treat with Alexander, King of Scots, concerning 
the restoring his sisters and hostages, and his right and liber¬ 
ties, in the same form and manner as we shall do to the rest 
of our barons of England; unless by the charters which we have 
from his father, William, late King of Scots, it ought to be other¬ 
wise ; and this shall be left to the determination of his peers in 
our court. 

60. All the aforesaid customs and liberties, which we have 
granted to be holden in our kingdom,'as much as it belongs to 
us, all people of our kingdom, as well clergy as laity, shall ob¬ 
serve, as far as they are concerned, towards their dependents. 

61. And whereas, for the honour of God and the amendment 
of our kingdom, and for the better quieting the discord that has 
.arisen between us and our barons, we have granted all these 
things aforesaid ; willing to render them firm and lasting, we do 
give and grant our subjects the underwritten security, namely 
that the barons may choose five-and-twenty barons of the king¬ 
dom, whom they think convenient; who shall take care, with 
all their might, to hold and observe, and cause to be observed, 
the peace and liberties we have granted them, and by this our 
present Charter confirmed in this manner ; that is to say, that 
if we, our justiciary, our bailiffs, or any of our officers, shall in 
any circumstance have failed in the performance of them to¬ 
wards any person, or shall have broken through any of these 
articles of peace and security, and the offence be notified to 
four barons chosen out of the five-and-twenty before mentioned, 


MAGNA CHARTA. 


319 


the said four barons shall repair to us, or our justiciary, if we 
are out of the realm, and, laying open the grievance, shall 
petition to have it redressed without delay: and if it be not re¬ 
dressed by us, or if we should chance to be out of the realm, 
if it should not be redressed by our justiciary within forty days, 
reckoning from the time it has been notified to us, or to our 
justiciary (if we should be out of the realm), the four barons 
aforesaid shall lay the cause before the rest of the five-and- 
twenty barons; and the said five-and-twenty barons, together 
with the community of the whole kingdom, shall distrain and 
distress us in all the ways in which they shall be able, by 
seizing our castles, lands, possessions, and in any other manner 
they can, till the grievance is redressed, according to their 
pleasure ; saving harmless our own person, and the persons of 
our Queen and children ; and when it is redressed, they shall 
behave to us as before. And any person whatsoever in the 
kingdom may swear that he will obey the orders of the five-and- 
twenty barons aforesaid in the execution of the premises, and 
will distress us, jointly with them, to the utmost of his power ; 
and we give public and free liberty to any one that shall please 
to swear to this, and never will hinder any person from taking 
the same oath. 

62. As for all those of our subjects who will not, of their 
own accord, swear to join the five-and-twenty barons in distrain¬ 
ing and distressing us, we will issue orders to make them take 
the same oath as aforesaid. And if any one of the five-and- 
twenty barons dies, or goes out of the kingdom, or is hindered 
any other way from carrying the things aforesaid into execution, 
the rest of the said five-and-twenty barons may choose another 
in his room, at their discretion, who shall be sworn in like man¬ 
ner as the rest. In all things that are committed to the execution 
of these five-and-twenty barons, if, when they are all assembled 
together, they should happen to disagree about any matter, and 
some of them, when summoned, will not or cannot come, what¬ 
ever is agreed upon, or enjoined, by the major part of those 
that are present shall be reputed as firm and valid as if all the 
five-and-twenty had given their consent; and the aforesaid five- 
and-twenty shall swear that all the premises they shall faithfully 
observe, and cause with all their power to be observed. And 
we will procure nothing from any one, by ourselves nor by 
another, whereby any of these concessions and liberties may be 
revoked or lessened ; and if any such thing shall have been ob- 


320 


APPENDIX. C. 


tained, let it be null and void; neither will we ever make use of 
it either by ourselves orany other. And all the ill-will, indig¬ 
nations, and rancours that have arisen between us and our sub¬ 
jects, of the clergy and laity, from the first breaking out of the 
dissensions between us, we do fully remit and forgive : moreover, 
all trespasses occasioned by the said dissensions, from Easter in 
the sixteenth year of our reign till the restoration of peace and 
tranquillity, we hereby entirely remit to all, both clergy and laity, 
and as far as in us lies do fully forgive. We have, moreover, 
caused to be made for them the letters patent testimonial of 
Stephen, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry, Lord Arch¬ 
bishop of Dublin, and the bishops aforesaid, as also of Master 
Pandulph, for the security and concessions aforesaid. 

63. Wherefore we will and firmly enjoin, that the Church of 
England be free, and that all men in our kingdom have and hold 
all the aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, truly and 
peaceably, freely and quietly, fully and wholly to themselves 
and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all things and places, for¬ 
ever, as is aforesaid. It is also sworn, as well on our part as on 
the part of the barons, that all the things aforesaid shall be 
observed in good faith, and without evil subtilty. Given under 
our hand, in the presence of the witnesses above named, and 
many others, in the meadow called Runingmede, between 
Windsor and Staines, the 15th day of June, in the 17th year 
of our reign. 


The translation here given is that published in Sheldon Amos’a 
work on The English Constitution. The translation given by Sir E. 
Creasy was chiefly followed in this, but it was collated with another 
accurate translation by Mr. Richard Thompson, accompanying his 
Historical Essay on Magna Charta, published in 1829, and also with 
the Latin text. “The explanation of the whole Charter,” observes 
Mr. Amos, “ must be sought chiefly in detailed accounts of the Feudal 
system in England, as explained in such works as those of Stubbs, 
Hallam, and Blackstone. The scattered notes here introduced have 
only for their purpose to elucidate the most unusual and perplexing 
expressions. The Charter printed in the Statute Book is that issued 
in the ninth year of Henry III., which is also the one specially con¬ 
firmed by the Charter of Edward I. The Charter of Henry III. dif¬ 
fers in some (generally) insignificant points from that of John. The 
most important difference is the omission in the later Charter of the 
14th and 15th Articles of John’s Charter, by which the King is re¬ 
stricted from levying aids beyond the three ordinary ones, without the 



MAGNA CHARTA. 


321 


assent of the ‘ Common Council of the Kingdom/ and provision is 
made for summoning it. This passage is restored by Edward I. 
Magna Charter has been solemnly confirmed upwards of thirty times.” 
See the chapter on the Great Charter, in Green’s History of the Eng¬ 
lish People . See also Stubbs’s Documents Illustrative of English His¬ 
tory. “ The whole of the constitutional history of England,” says 
Stubbs, “ is a commentary on this Charter, the illustration of which 
must be looked for in the documents that precede and follow.” 


“ CONFIRMATIO CHARTARUM” OF EDWARD I. 

1297. 

I. Edward, by the grace of God, King of England, Lord of 
Ireland, and Duke Guyan, to all those that these present letters 
shall hear or see, greeting. Know ye that we, to the honour of 
God and of holy Church, and to the profit of our realm, have 
granted for us and our heirs, that the Charter of Liberties and 
the Charter of the Forest, which were made by common assent 
of all the realm in the time of King Henry our father, shall be 
kept in every point without breach. And we will that the same 
Charters shall be sent under our seal as well to our justices of 
the forest as to others, and to all sheriffs of shires, and to all our 
other officers, and to all our cities throughout the realm, together 
with our writs in the which it shall be contained that they cause 
the foresaid Charters to be published, and to declare to the 
people that we have confirmed them in all points ; and that our 
justices, sheriffs, mayors, and other ministers, which under us 
have the laws of our land to guide, shall allow the said Charters 
pleaded before them in judgment in all their points; that is to 
wit, the Great Charter as the common law, and the Charter of 
the Forest according to the assize of the Forest, for the wealth 
of our realm. 

II. And we will that if any judgment be given from hence¬ 
forth, contrary to the points of the Charters aforesaid, by the 
justices or by any other our ministers that hold plea before them 
against the points of the Charters, it shall be undone and holden 
for naught. 

III. And we will that the same Charters shall be sent under 
our seal to cathedral churches throughout our realm, there to 
remain, and shall be read before the people two times by the 
year. 



322 


APPENDIX C. 


IV. And that all archbishops and bishops shall pronounce the 
sentence of great excommunication against all those that by 
word, deed, or counsel do contrary to the foresaid Charters, or 
that in any point break or undo them. And that the said curses 
be twice a year denounced and published by the prelates afore¬ 
said. And if the prelates or any of them be remiss in the de¬ 
nunciation of the said sentences, the Archbishops of Canterbury 
and York for the time being, as is fitting, shall compel and dis¬ 
train them to make that denunciation in form aforesaid. 

V. And for so much as divers people of our realm are in fear 
that the aids and tasks which they have given to us beforetime 
towards our wars and other business, of their own grant and 
goodwill, howsoever they were made, might turn to a bondage 
to them and their heirs, because they might be at another time 
found in the rolls, and so likewise the prises taken throughout 
the realm by our ministers; we have granted for us and our 
heirs, that we shall not draw such aids, tasks, nor prises into a 
custom, for anything that hath been done heretofore, or that may 
be found by roll or in any other manner. 

VI. Moreover we have granted for us and our heirs, as well 
to archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, and other folk of holy 
Church, as also to earls, barons, and to all the commonalty of 
the land, that for no business from henceforth will we take such 
manner of aids, tasks, nor prises but by the common consent of 
the realm, and for the common profit thereof, saving the ancient 
aids and prises due and accustomed. 

VII. And for so much as the more part of the commonalty of 
the realm find themselves sore grieved with the matelote of wools, 
that is to wit, a toll of forty shillings for every sack of wool, and 
have made petition to us to release the same; we, at their re¬ 
quests, have clearly released it, and have granted for us and our 
heirs that we shall not take such thing nor any other without 
their common assent and goodwill; saving to us and our heirs 
the custom of wools, skins, and leather, granted before by the 
commonalty aforesaid. In witness of which things we have 
caused these our letters to be made patents. Witness Edward 
our son, at London, the 10th day of October, the five-and- 
twentieth of our reign. 

And be it remembered that this same Charter, in the same 
terms, word for word, was sealed in Flanders under the King’s 
Great Seal, that is to say, at Ghent, the 5th day of November, 


MAGNA CHART A. 


323 


in the 52th year of the reign of our aforesaid Lord the King, 
and sent into England. 

The words of this important document, from Professor Stubbs’s 
translation, are given as the best explanation of the constitutional 
position and importance of the Charters of John and Henry III. See 
historical notice in Stubbs’s Documents Illustrative of English History , 
p. 477. This is far the most important of the numerous ratifications 
of the Great Charter. Hallara calls it “that famous statute, inade¬ 
quately denominated the Confirmation of the Charters, because it added 
another pillar to our constitution, not less important than the Great 
Charter itself.” It solemnly confirmed the two Charters, the Charter 
of the Forest (issued by Henry II. in 1217 — see text in Stubbs, 
p. 338) being then considered as of equal importance with Magna 
Charta itself, establishing them in all points as the law of the land; 
but it did more. “ Hitherto the king’s prerogative of levying money 
by name of tallage or prise , from his towns and tenants in demesne, 
had passed unquestioned. Some impositions, that especially on the 
export of wool, affected all the king’s subjects. It was now the mo¬ 
ment to enfranchise the people and give that security to private prop¬ 
erty which Magna Charta had given to personal liberty.” Edward's 
statute binds the king Dever to take any of these “ aids, tasks, and 
prises ” in future, save by the common assent of the realm. Hence, 
as Bowen remarks, the Confirmation of the Charters, or an abstract 
of it under the form of a supposed statute de tallagio non concedendo 
(see Stubbs, p. 487), was more frequently cited than any other enact¬ 
ment by the parliamentary leaders who resisted the encroachments of 
Charles I. The original of the Confirmatio Chartarum, which is in 
Norman French, is still in existence, though considerably shriveled 
by the fire which damaged sc many of the Cottonian manuscripts in 
1731. 


THE GRANT OF THE GREAT CHARTER. 

“ An island in the Thames between Staines and Windsor had been 
chosen as the place of conference: the King encamped on one bank, 
while the barons covered the marshy flat, still known by the name of 
Runnymede, on the other. Their delegates met in the island be¬ 
tween them, but the negotiations were a mere cloak to cover John’s 
purpose of unconditional submission. The Great Charter was dis¬ 
cussed, agreed to, and signed in a single day. One copy of it still re¬ 
mains in the British Museum, injured by age and fire, but with the 
royal seal still hanging from the brown, shrivelled parchment. It is 
impossible to gaze without reverence on the earliest monument of 
English freedom which we can see with our own eyes and touch with 
our own hands, the great Charter to which from age to age patriots 


324 


APPENDIX C. 


have looked back as the basis of English liberty. But in itself the 
Charter was no novelty, nor did it claim to establish any new consti¬ 
tutional principles. The Charter of Henry the First formed the basis 
of the whole, and the additions to it are for the most part formal rec¬ 
ognitions of the judicial and administrative changes introduced by 
Henry the Second. But the vague expressions of the older charters 
were now exchanged for precise and elaborate provisions. The bonds 
of unwritten custom which the older grants did little more than rec¬ 
ognize had proved too weak to hold the Angevins; and the baronage 
now threw them aside for the restraints of written law. It is in this 
way that the Great Charter marks the transition from the age of 
traditional rights, preserved in the nation’s memory and officially de¬ 
clared by the Primate, to the age of written legislation, of Parlia¬ 
ments and Statutes, which was soon to come. The Church had shown 
its power of self-defence in the struggle over the interdict, and the 
clause which recognized its rights alone retained the older and gen¬ 
eral form. But all vagueness ceases when the Charter passes on to 
deal with the rights of Englishmen at large, their right to justice, to 
security of person and property, to good government. ‘No free¬ 
man,’ ran the memorable article that lies at the base of our whole 
judicial system, ‘shall be seized or imprisoned, or dispossessed, or 
outlawed, or in any way brought to ruin; we will not go against any 
man nor send against him, save by legal judgment of his peers or by 
the law of the land.’ ‘ To no man will we sell/ runs another, ‘ or 
deny, or delay, right or justice/ The great reforms of the past reigns 
were now formally recognized; judges of assize were to hold their 
circuits four times in the year, and the Court of Common Pleas was 
no longer to follow the King in his wanderings over the realm, but to 
sit in a fixed place. But the denial of justice under John was a small 
danger compared with the lawless exactions both of himself and his 
predecessor. Richard had increased the amount of the scutage which 
Henry II. had introduced, and applied it to raise funds for his ran¬ 
som. He had restored the Danegeld, or land tax, so often abolished, 
under the new name of ‘carucage,’ had seized the wool of the Cis¬ 
tercians and the plate of the churches, and rated movables as well as 
land. John had again raised the rate of scutage, and imposed aids, 
fines, and ransoms at his pleasure without counsel of the baronage. 
The Great Charter met this abuse by the provision on which our con¬ 
stitutional system rests. With the exception of the three customary 
feudal aids which still remained to the crown, ‘no scutage or aid 
shall be imposed in our realm save by the Common Council of the 
realm;’ and to this Great Council it was provided that prelates and 
the greater barons should be summoned by special writ, and all ten¬ 
ants in chief through the sheriffs and bailiffs, at least forty days 
before. But it was less easy to provide means for the control of a 
King whom no man could trust, and a council of twenty-four barons 


A PART OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS. 


825 


was chosen from the general body of their order to enforce on John 
the observance of the Charter, with the right of declaring war on the 
King should its provisions be infringed. Finally, the Charter was 
published throughout the whole, country, and sworn to at every hun¬ 
dred-mote and town-mote by order from the King.”— Green*s Short 
History of the English People, p. 123. 


APPENDIX D. 

A PART OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS, 

An Act for Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the 

Subject, and Settling the Succession of the Crown. 

1689. 

Whereas the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, 
assembled at Westminster, lawfully, fully, and freely represent¬ 
ing all the estates of the people of this realm, did upon the 
thirteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thou¬ 
sand six hundred eighty-eight [o. s.], 1 present unto their Majes¬ 
ties, then called and known by the names and style of William 
and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange, being present in 
their proper persons, a certain Declaration in writing, made by 
the said Lords and Commons, in the words following, viz.: 

Whereas the late King James II., by the assistance of divers 
evil counsellors, judges, and ministers employed by him, did 
endeavour to subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion, and 
the laws and liberties of this kingdom: 

1. By assuming and exercising a power of dispensing with and 
suspending of laws, and the execution of laws, without consent 
of Parliament. 

2. By committing and prosecuting divers worthy prelates for 
humbly petitioning to be excused from concurring to the said 
assumed power. 

3. By issuing and causing to be executed a commission under 
the Great Seal for erecting a court, called the Court of Commis¬ 
sioners for Ecclesiastical Causes. 

4. By levying money for and to the use of the Crown by pre¬ 
tence of prerogative, for other time and in other manner than 
the same was granted by Parliament. 

1 In New Style Feb. 23, 1689. 



326 


A PPENDIX D. 


5. By raising and keeping a standing army within this king¬ 
dom in time of peace, without consent of Parliament, and quar¬ 
tering soldiers contrary to law. 

6. By causing several good subjects, being Protestants, to he 
disarmed, at the same time when Papists were both armed and 
employed contrary to law. 

7. By violating the freedom of election of members to serve 
in Parliament. 

8. By prosecutions in the Court of King’s Bench for matters 
and causes cognizable only in Parliament, and by divers other 
arbitrary and illegal causes. 

9. And whereas of late years, partial, corrupt, and unqualified 
persons have been returned, and served on juries in trials, and 
particularly divers jurors in trials for high treason, which were 
not freeholders. 

10. And excessive bail hath been required of persons commit¬ 
ted in criminal cases, to elude the benefit of the laws made for 
the liberty of the subjects. 

11. And excessive fines have been imposed; and illegal and 
cruel punishments inflicted. 

12. And several grants and promises made of fines and for¬ 
feitures before any conviction or judgment against the persons 
upon whom the same were to be levied. 

All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known laws 
and statutes, and freedom of this realm. 

And whereas the said late King James II. having abdicated 

o o 

the government, and the throne being thereby vacant, his High¬ 
ness the Prince of Orange (whom it hath pleased Almighty God 
to make the glorious instrument of delivering this kingdom from 
popery and arbitrary power) did (by the advice of the Lords 
Spiritual and Temporal, and divers principal persons of the 
Commons) cause letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual 
and Temporal, being Protestants, and other letters to the sev¬ 
eral counties, cities, universities, boroughs, and cinque ports, 
for the choosing of such persons to represent them as were of 
right to be sent to Parliament, to meet and sit at Westminster 
upon the two-and-twentieth day of January, in this year one 
thousand six hundred eighty and eight, 1 in order to such an 
establishment, as that their religion, laws, and liberties might 
not again be in danger of being subverted; upon which letters 
elections have been accordingly made. 

And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and 

1 In New Style Feb. 1, 1689. 


A PART OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS. 327 


Commons, pursuant to their respective letters and elections, 
being now assembled in a full and free representation of this 
nation, taking into their most serious consideration the best 
means for attaining the ends aforesaid, do in the first place (as 
their ancestors in like case have usually done) for the vindicating 
and asserting their ancient rights and liberties, declare: 

1. That the pretended power of suspending of laws, or the 
execution of laws by regal authority, without consent of Parlia¬ 
ment, is illegal. 

2. That the pretended power of dispensing with laws, or the 
execution of laws by regal authority, as it hath been assumed 
and exercised of late, is illegal. 

3. That the commission for erecting the late Court of Com¬ 
missioners for Ecclesiastical Causes, and all other commissions 
and courts of like nature, are illegal and pernicious. 

4. That levying money for or to the use of the Crown by pre¬ 
tence and prerogative, without grant of Parliament , for longer time 
or in other manner than the same is or shall be granted , is illegalA 

5. That it is the right of the subjects to petition the King, and all 
commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal . 2 

6. That the raising or keeping a standing army within the king¬ 
dom in time of peace, unless it be with consent of Parliament , is 
against law. 3 

7. That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for 
their defence suitable to their conditions, and as allowed by law* 

8. That election of members of Parliament ought to be free. 

9. That the freedom of speech , and debates or proceedings in 
Parliament, ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court 
or place out of Parliament . 6 

10. That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive 
fnes imposed ; nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted . 6 

11. That jurors ought to be duly impanelled and returned , and 
jurors which pass upon men in trials for high treason ought to be 
freeholdersA 

1 Compare this clause 4 with clauses 12 and 14 of Magna Charta, 
and with Art. I. § vii. clause 1 of the Constitution of the United 
States. 

2 Compare clause 5 with Amendment I. 

8 Compare clause 6 with Amendment III. 

4 Compare clause 7 with Amendment II. 

6 Compare clause 9 with Constitution, Art. I. § vi. clause 1. 

6 Compare clause 10 with Amendment VIII. 

7 Compare clause 11 with Amendments YI. and VII. 


328 


APPENDIX D. 


12. That all grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of 
particular persons before conviction are illegal and void. 

13. And that for redress of all grievances, and for the amend¬ 
ing, strengthening, and preserving of the laws, Parliament 
ought to be held frequently. 

And they do claim, demand, and insist upon all and singular 
the premises, as their undoubted rights and liberties; and that 
no declarations, judgments, doings or proceedings, to the preju¬ 
dice of the people in any of the said premises, ought in any 
wise to be drawn hereafter into consequence or example. 

To which demand of their rights they are particularly encour¬ 
aged by the declaration of his Highness the Prince of Orange, 
as being the only means for obtaining a full redress and remedy 
therein. 

Having therefore an entire confidence that his said Highness 
the Prince of Orange will perfect the deliverance so far ad¬ 
vanced by him, and will still preserve them from the violation 
of their rights, which they have here asserted, and from all 
other attempts upon their religion, rights, and liberties: 

II. The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, 
assembled at Westminster, do resolve, that William and Mary, 
Prince and Princess of Orange, be, and be declared, King and 
Queen of England, France, and Ireland, and the dominions 
thereunto belonging, to hold the crown and royal dignity of the 
said kingdoms and dominions to them the said Prince and 
Princess during their lives, and the life of the survivor of them; 
and that the sole and full exercise of the regal power be only 
in, and executed by, the said Prince of Orange, in the names 
of the said Prince and Princess, during their joint lives; and 
after their deceases, the said crown and royal dignity of the 
said kingdoms and dominions to be to the heirs of the body of 
the said Princess; and for default of such issue to the Princess 
Anne of Denmark, and the heirs of her body ; and for default 
of such issue to the heirs of the body of the said Prince of 
Orange. And the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Com¬ 
mons, do pray the said Prince and Princess to accept the same 
accordingly. 

The act goes on to declare that, their Majesties having ac¬ 
cepted the crown upon these terms, the “ rights and liberties as¬ 
serted and claimed in the said declaration are the true, ancient, 
and indubitable rights and liberties of the people of this king¬ 
dom, and so shall be esteemed, allowed, adjudged, deemed, and 


FUNDAMENTAL ORDERS OF CONNECTICUT. 829 


taken to be, and that all and every the particulars aforesaid 
shall be firmly and strictly holden and observed, as they are ex¬ 
pressed in the said declaration; and all officers and ministers 
whatsoever shall serve their Majesties and their successors ac¬ 
cording to the same in all times to come.” 

The act then declares that William and Mary “ are and of 
right ought to be King and Queen of England, etc.; and it goes 
on to regulate the succession after their deaths. 

“ The passing of the Bill of Rights in 1689 restored to the 
monarchy the character which it had lost under the Tudors and 
the Stuarts. The right of the people through its representa¬ 
tives to depose the King, to change the order of succession, and 
to set on the throne whom they would, was now established. 
All claim of divine right, or hereditary right independent of the 
law, was formally put an end to by the election of William and 
Mary. Since their day no English sovereign has been able to 
advance any claim to the crown save a claim which rested on a 
particular clause in a particular Act of Parliament. William, 
Mary, and Anne were sovereigns simply by virtue of the Bill of 
Rights, George the First and his successors have been sover¬ 
eigns solely by virtue of the Act of Settlement. An English 
monarch is now as much the creature of an Aet of Parliament 
as the pettiest tax-gatherer in his realm.” — Green's Short His~ 
tory, p. 673. 


APPENDIX E. 

THE FUNDAMENTAL ORDERS OF CONNECTICUT. 

1638(9). 

The first written constitution that created a government. 

Forasmuch as it hath pleased the Allmighty God by the 
wise disposition of his diuyne p r uidence so to Order and dispose 
of things that we the Inhabitants and Residents of Windsor, 
Harteford and Wethersfield are now cohabiting and dwelling in 
and vppon the River of Conectecotte and the Lands thereunto 
adioyneing ; And well knowing where a people are gathered to- 
gather the word of God requires that to mayntayne the peace 
and vnion of such a people there should be an orderly and de- 



330 


APPENDIX E. 


cent Gouerment established according to God, to order and 
dispose of the affayres of the people at all seasons as oceation 
shall require ; doe therefore assotiate and conioyne our selues 
to be as one Publike State or Comonwelth ; and doe, for our 
selues and our Successors and such as shall be adioyned to vs 
att any tyme hereafter, enter into Combination and Confedera¬ 
tion togather, to mayntayne and p r searue the liberty and purity 
of the gospell of our Lord Jesus w ch we now p T fesse, as also the 
disciplyne of the Churches, w oh according to the truth of the 
said gospell is now practised amongst vs ; As also in o r Ciuell 
Affaires to be guided and gouerned according to such Lawes, 
Rules, Orders and decrees as shall be made, ordered & decreed, 
as followeth : — 

1. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed, that there shall be 
yerely two generall Assemblies or Courts, the one the second 
thursday in Aprill, the other the second thursday in September, 
following ; the first shall be called the Courte of Election, 
wherein shall be yerely Chosen frd tyme to tyme soe many 
Magestrats and other publike Officers as shall be found requi¬ 
site : Whereof one to be chosen Gouernour for the yeare ensue- 
ing and vntill another be chosen, and noe other Magestrate to 
be chosen for more than one yeare ; p r uided allwayes there 
be sixe chosen besids the Gouernour; w ch being chosen and 
sworne according to an Oath recorded for that purpose shall 
haue power to administer iustice according to the Lawes here 
established, and for want thereof according to the rule of the 
word of God ; w ch choise shall be made by all that are admitted 
freemen and haue taken the Oath of Fidelity, and doe cohabitte 
w th in this Jurisdiction, (liauing beene admitted Inhabitants by 
the maior p r t of the Towne wherein they liue,) or the mayor pie 
of such as shall be then p'sent. 

2. It is Ordered, sentensed and decreed, that the Election of 
the aforesaid Magestrats shall be on this manner: euery p r son 
p r sent and qualified for choyse shall bring in (to the p T sons de¬ 
puted to receaue the) one single pap r w th the name of him writ¬ 
ten in yt whom he desires to haue Gouernour, and he that hath 
the greatest nuber of papers shall be Gouernor for that yeare. 
And the rest of the Magestrats or publike Officers to be chosen 
in this manner: The Secretary for the tyme being shall first 
read the names of all that are to be put to choise and then shall 
seuerally nominate them distinctly, and euery one that would 
haue the p'son nominated to be chosen shall bring in one single 


FUNDAMENTAL ORDERS OF CONNECTICUT. 331 


paper written vppon, and he that would not haue him chosen 
shall bring in a blanke : and euery one that hath more written 
papers then blanks shall be a Magistrat for that yeare; w oh pa¬ 
pers shall be receaued and told by one or more that shall be then 
chosen by the court and sworne to be faythfull therein ; but in 
case there should not be sixe chosen as aforesaid, besids the 
Gouernor, out of those w oh are nominated, then he or they w oh 
haue the most written pap r s shall be a Magestrate or Magestrats 
for the ensueing yeare, to make vp the foresaid nuber. 

3. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed, that the Secretary 
shall not nominate any p r son, nor shall any p r son be chosen 
newly into the Magestracy w oh was not p r pownded in some Gen¬ 
erali Courte before, to be nominated the next Election; and to 
that end yt shall be lawfull for ech of the Townes aforesaid by 
their deputyes to nominate any two who they conceaue fitte to 
be put to election ; and the Courte may ad so many more as 
they iudge requisitt. 

4. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed that noe p r son be 
chosen Gouernor aboue once in two yeares, and that the Gou¬ 
ernor be always a meber of some approved congregation, and 
formerly of the Magestracy w th in this Jurisdiction ; and all the 
Magestrats Freemen of this Comonwelth : and that no Mages¬ 
trate or other publike officer shall execute any p r te of his or 
their Office before they are seuerally sworne, w ch shall be done 
in the face of the Courte if they be p r sent, and in case of ab¬ 
sence by some deputed for that purpose. 

5. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed, that to the afore¬ 
said Courte of Election the seu r all Townes shall send their 
deputyes, and when the Elections are ended they may p'ceed 
in any publike searuice as at other Courts. Also the other 
Generali Courte in September shall be for makeing of lawes, 
and any other publike occation, w oh conserns the good of the 
Comonwelth. 

6. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed, that the Gou'nor 
shall, ether by himselfe or by the secretary, send out sumons to 
the Constables of eu r Towne for the cauleing of these two 
standing Courts, on month at lest before their seu r all tymes ; 
And also if the Gou r nor and the gretest p r te of the Magestrats 
see cause vppon any spetiall occation to call a generall Courte, 
they may giue order to the secretary soe to doe w th in fowerteene 
dayes warneing ; and if vrgent necessity so require, vppon a 
shorter notice, giueing sufficient grownds for yt to the deputyes 


APPENDIX E. 


when they meete, or els be questioned for the same ; And if the 
Gou r nor and Mayor p r te of Magestrats shall ether neglect or 
refuse to call the two Generali standing Courts or ether of the, 
as also at other tymes when the occations of the Comonwelth 
require, the Freemen thereof, or the Mayor p r te of them, shall 
petition to them soe to doe : if then yt be ether denyed or neg¬ 
lected the said Freemen or the Mayor p r te of them shall haue 
power to giue order to the Constables of the seuerall Townes to 
doe the same, and so may meete togather, and chuse to them- 
selues a Moderator, and may p r ceed to do any Acte of power, 
w oh any other Generali Courte may. 

7. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed that after there are 
warrants giuen out for any of the said Generali Courts, the Con¬ 
stable or Constables of ech Towne shall forthw th give notice dis¬ 
tinctly to the inhabitants of the same, in some Publike Assembly 
or by goeing or sending fro howse to bowse, that at a place and 
tyme by him or them lymited and sett, they meet and assem¬ 
ble the selues togather to elect and chuse certen deputyes to 
be att the Generali Courte then following to agitate the afayres 
of the comonwelth ; w ch said Deputyes shall be chosen by all 
that are admitted Inhabitants in the seu T all Townes and haue 
taken the oath of fidellity; p r uided that non be chosen a Deputy 
for any Generali Courte w ch is not a Freeman of this Comon¬ 
welth. 

The foresaid deputyes shall be chosen in manner following : 
euery p r son that is p r seni and quallified as before exposed, shall 
bring the names of such, written in seu T rall papers, as they desire 
to haue chosen for that Imployment, and these 3 or 4, more or 
lesse, being the nuber agreed on to be chosen for that tyme, that 
haue greatest nuber of papers written for the shall be deputyes 
for that Courte; whose names shall be endorsed on the backe 
side of the warrant and returned into the Courte, w th the Con¬ 
stable or Constables hand vnto the same. 

8. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed, that Wyndsor, 
Hartford and Wethersfield shall haue power, ech Towne, to 
send fower of their freemen as deputyes to euery Generali 
Courte ; and whatsoeuer other Townes shall be hereafter added 
to this Jurisdiction, they shall send so many deputyes as the 
Courte shall judge meete, a resonable p r portion to the nuber of 
Freemen that are in the said Townes being to be attended there¬ 
in; w oh deputyes shall have the power of the whole Towne to 
giue their voats and alowance to all such lawes and orders as may 


FUNDAMENTAL ORDERS OF CONNECTICUT. 333 

be for the publike good, and unto w oh the said Townes are to be 
bownd. 

9. It is ordered and decreed, that the deputyes thus chosen 
shall haue power and liberty to appoynt a tyme and a place of 
meeting togather before any Generali Courte to aduise and con¬ 
sult of all such things as may coneerne the good of the publike, 
as also to examine their owne Elections, whether according to the 
order, and if they or the gretest p r te of them find any election to 
be illegall they may seclud such for p r sent fro their meeting, and 
returne the same and their resons to the Courte; and if yt proue 
true, the Courte may fyne the p r ty or p r tyes so intruding and the 
Towne, if they see cause, and giue out a warrant to goe to a 
newe election in a legall way, either in p r te or in whole. Also 
the said deputyes shall haue power to fyne any that shall be dis¬ 
orderly at their meetings, or for not coming in due tyme or place 
according to appoyntment ; and they may returne the said fynes 
into the Courte if yt be refused to be paid, and the tresurer to 
take notice of yt, and to estreete or levy the same as he doth 
other fynes. 

10. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed, that euery Gen¬ 
erali Courte, except such as through neglecte of the Gou r nor 
and the greatest p r te of Magestrats the Freemen themselves 
doe call, shall consist of the Gouernor, or some one chosen to 
moderate the Court, and 4 other Magestrats at lest, w th the 
mayor p r te of the deputyes of the seuerall Townes legally chosen; 
and in case the Freemen or mayor p r te of the, through neglect 
or refusall of the Gouernor and mayor p r te of the magestrats, 
shall call a Courte, y* shall consist of the mayor p r te of Free¬ 
men that are p r sent or their deputyes, w th a Moderator chosen 
by the : In w ch said Generali Courts shall consist the supreme 
power of the Comonwelth, and they only shall haue power to 
make laws or repeale the, to graunt leuyes, to admitt of Free¬ 
men, dispose of lands vndisposed of, to seuerall Townes or 
p T sons, and also shall haue power to call ether Courte or Mages- 
trate or any other p r son whatsoeuer into question for any misde¬ 
meanour, and may for just causes displace or deale otherwise 
according to the nature of the offence ; and also may deale in 
any other matter that concerns the good of this comonwelth, 
excepte election of Magestrats, w oh shall be done by the whole 
boddy of Freemen. 

In w' h Courte the Gouernour or Moderator shall haue power to 
order the Courte to giue liberty of spech, and silence vnceason- 


334 


APPENDIX E. 


able and disorderly speakeings, to put all things to voate, and in 
case the vote be equall to haue the casting voice. But non of 
these Courts shall be adiorned or dissolued w th out the consent 
of the maior p r te of the Court. 

11. It is ordered, sentenced and decreed, that when any 
Generali Courte vppon the occations of the Comonwelth haue 
agreed vppon any sume or somes of mony to be leuyed vppon 
the^euerall Townes w th in this Jurisdiction, that a Comittee be 
chosen to sett out and appoynt w* shall be the p r portion of euery 
Towne to pay of the said leuy, p r vided the Coraittees be made 
vp of an equall nuber out of each Towne. 

14 th January, 1*638, the 11 Orders abouesaid are voted. 

The Oath of the Gou 8 nor, for the [p r sent]. 

I jft, lt>. being now chosen to be Gou r nor w th in this Jurisdic¬ 
tion, for the yeare ensueing, and vntil a new be chosen, doe 
sweare by the greate and dreadfull name of the everliueing God, 
to phnote the publicke good and peace of the same, according 
to the best of my skill; as also will mayntayne all lawfull priui- 
ledges of this Comonwealth; as also that all wholesome lawes 
that are or shall be made by lawfull authority here established, 
be duly executed ; and will further the execution of Justice ac¬ 
cording to the rule of Gods word ; so helpe me God, in the 
name of the Lo : Jesus Christ. 

The Oath of a Magestrate, for the p b sent. 

I, Jft. ID. being chosen a Magestrate w th in this Jurisdiction 
for the yeare ensueing, doe sweare by the great and dreadfull 
name of the euerliueing God, to p r mote the publike good and 
peace of the same, according to the best of my skill, and that I 
will mayntayne all the lawfull priuiledges thereof according to 
my vnderstanding, as also assist in the execution of all such 
wholsome lawes as are made or shall be made by lawfull author¬ 
ity heare established, and will further the execution of Justice 
for the tyme aforesaid according to the righteous rule of Gods 
word ; so helpe me God, etc. 

[Until 1752, the legal year in England began March 25 (Lady Day), 
not January 1. All the days between January 1 and March 25 of the 
year which we now call 1639 were therefore then a part of the year 
1638 ; so that the date of the Constitution is given by its own terms as 
1638, instead of 1639.J 

























































* 

















































STATES CLASSIFIED. 


335 


APPENDIX F. 


THE STATES CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO ORIGIN. 

1. The thirteen original states. 

2. States formed directly from other states. 

Vermont from territory disputed between New York and 
New Hampshire, Kentucky from Virginia, Maine 
from Massachusetts, West Virginia from Virginia. 

3. States from the Northwest Territory (see p. 253). 

Ohio, Michigan, 

Indiana, Wisconsin, 

Illinois, Minnesota, in part. 

4. States from other territory ceded by states. 

Tennessee, ceded by North Carolina, 

Alabama, ceded by South Carolina and Georgia, 
Mississippi, ceded by South Carolina and Georgia. 

5. States from the Louisiana purchase (see p. 253). 


North Dakota, 
South Dakota, 
Montana, 

Minnesota, in part, 
Wyoming, in part, 
Colorado, in part. 


Louisiana, 

Arkansas, 

Missouri, 

Kansas, 

Nebraska, 

Iowa, 

States from Mexican cessions. 

California, Utah, 

Nevada, 

States from territory defined by treaty with Great Britain 
(see p. 254). 

Oregon, Washington, 

8. States from other sources. 

Florida, from a Spanish cession, 

Texas, by annexation (see p. 254). 


6 . 


7. 


Wyoming, in part, 
Colorado, in part. 


Idaho. 


336 APPENDIX G. 

APPENDIX G. 

TABLE OF STATES AND TERRITORIES. 

(Ratio of representation based on census of 1890 —173,901.) 


Dates. 

No. 

Names. 

Popula¬ 
tion to 
sq. m. 

Area in 
sq. m. 

Popula¬ 
tion, 1890. 

Repres. in Con¬ 

gress, 1896. 

Electoral vote, 
1896. 


1787, Dec. 7 

1 

Delaware 

82.1 

2,050 

168,493 

1 

3 

q 

c 

Dec. 12 

2 

Pennsylvania 

111.2 

45,215 

5,258,014 

30 

32 


Dec. 18 

3 

New Jersey 

179.7 

7,815 

1,444,933 

8 

10 


1788, Jan. 2 

4 

Georgia 

30.8 

59,475 

1,837.353 

11 

13 

+-> 

CQ 

Jan. 9 

5 

Connecticut 

149.5 

4,990 

746,258 

4 

6 

c 

o 

Feb. 6 

6 

Massachusetts 

269.2 

8,315 

2,238,943 

13 

15 


April 28 

7 

Maryland 

85.3 

12,210 

1,042,390 

6 

8 

<v 

rZ 

May 23 

8 

South Carolina 

37.6 

30.570 

1,151,149 

7 

9 


June 21 

9 

New Hampshire 

40.4 

9,305 

376,530 

2 

4 

*) 

June 25 

10 

Virginia 

39. 

42,450 

1,655,980 

10 

12 


July 26 

11 

New York 

121.9 

49,170 

5.997,853 

34 

36 

c$ 

1789, Nov. 21 

12 

North Carolina 

30.9 

52,250 

1,617,947 

9 

11 

05 

1790, May 29 

13 

Rhode Island 

276.4 

1,250 

345,506 

2 

4 


1791, March 4 

14 

Vermont 

34.6 

9,565 

332,422 

2 

4 


1792, June 1 

15 

Kentucky 

46. 

40,400 

1,858,635 

11 

13 


1796, June 1 

16 

Tennessee 

42. 

42,050 

1,767,518 

10 

12 


1803, Feb. 19 

17 

Ohio 

89.4 

41,060 

3,672,316 

21 

23 


1812, April 30 

18 

Louisiana 

22.9 

48,720 

1,118.587 

6 

8 


1816, Dec. 11 

19 

Indiana 

60.3 

36,350 

2,192,404 

13 

15 


1817, Dec. 10 

20 

Mississippi 

42.7 

46,810 

1,289,600 

7 

9 


1818, Dec. 3 

21 

Illinois 

67.5 

56,650 

3,826,351 

22 

24 


1819, Dec. 14 

22 

Alabama 

28.9 

52,250 

1,513,017 

9 

11 


1820, March 15 

23 

Maine 

20. 

33,040 

601,086 

4 

6 

q 

1821, Aug. 10 

24 

Missouri 

38.5 

69,415 

2,679,184 

15 

17 

o 

1836, June 15 

25 

Arkansas 

20.9 

53,850 

1,128,179 

6 

8 

q 

1837, Jan. 26 

26 

Michigan 

35.5 

58,915 

2,093,889 

12 

14 


1845, March 3 

27 

Florida 

6.6 

58,680 

391,422 

2 

4 

J§ 

1845, Dec. 29 

28 

Texas 

8.4 

205,780 

2,235.523 

13 

15 

o ^ 

1846, Dec. 28 

29 

Iowa 

34.1 

56,025 

1,911,896* 

11 

13 


1848, May 29 

30 

Wisconsin 

30. 

56,040 

1,686,880 

10 

12 

(D 

1850, Sept. 9 

31 

California 

7.6 

158,300 

1,208,130 

7 

9 


1858, May 11 

32 

Minnesota 

15.6 

83,365 

1,301,826 

7 

9 

a 

1859, Feb. 14 

33 

Oregon 

3.2 

96,030 

313,767 

2 

4 

’d 

1861, Jan. 29 

34 

Kansas 

17.3 

82,080 

1,427,096 

8 

10 


1863, June 19 

35 

West Virginia 

30.7 

24,780 

762,794 

4 

6 


1864, Oct. 31 

36 

Nevada 

0.4 

110,700 

45,761 

1 

3 


1867, March 1 

37 

Nebraska 

13.6 

77,5i0 

1,058,910 

6 

8 


1876, Aug. 1 

38 

Colorado 

3.9 

103.925 

412,198 

2 

4 


1 QQO o I 

39 

North Dakota ) 

2.5 

70,795 

182,719 

1 

3 


looU, ISOV. L < 

40 

South Dakota ) 

4.2 

77,650 

328,808 

2 

4 

• 

1889, Nov. 8 

41 

Montana 

0.9 

146,080 

132,159 

1 

3 


1889, Nov. 11 

42 

Washington 

5. 

69,180 

349,390 

2 

4 


1890, July 3 

43 

Idaho 

0.9 

84.800 

84,385 

1 

3 


1890, July 10 

44 

Wyoming 

0.6 

97.890 

60,705 

1 

3 


1896, Jan. 4 

45 

Utah 

2.4 

84,970 

207,905 

1 

3 

T3 

1850, Sept. 9 


New Mexico 

1.2 

122.580 

153.593 



<D 

N 

1863, Feb. 24 


Arizona 

0.5 

113,020 

59,620 



a 

1868, July 27 


Alaska 


577,390 

no census 



ti ' 

1834, June 30 


Indian Territory 


31,400 

no census 



o 

1889, April 22 


Oklahoma 

1.5 

39,030 

61,834 




1791, March 3 


Dist. of Columbia 

3,291.1 

70 

230,392 




1896, total House of Representatives 357 -j- Senate 90 = electoral votes, 447. 





















EXAMINATION PAPER. 


337 


APPENDIX H. 

POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES, 1790-1890, 

Showing Percentages of Urban Population. 


Date. 

Pop. of U. S. 

No. of Cities. 

Pop. of Cities. 

Percentage of Urban 
Population. 

1790 

3.929,214 

6 

131,472 

3.33 

1800 

5,308,483 

6 

210,873 

3.9 

1810 

7,239,881 

11 

356,920 

4.9 

1820 

9,633,822 

13 

474,135 

4.9 

1830 

12,866,020 

26 

864,509 

6.7 

1840 

17,069,453 

44 

1,453,994 

8.5 

1850 

23,191,876 

85 

2,897,586 

12.5 

1860 

31,443,321 

141 

5,072,256 

16.1 

1870 

38,558,371 

226 

8,071,875 

20.9 

1880 

50,155,783 

286 

11,318,597 

22.5 

1890 

62,622,250 

443 

18,235,670 

29.1 


APPENDIX L 

AN EXAMINATION PAPER FOR CUSTOMS CLERKS. 

Applicant’s No. . 
Applicant’s Declaration. 

Directions, — 1. The number above is your examination number. 
Write it at the top of every sheet given you in this examination. 

2. Fill promptly all the blanks in this sheet. Any omission may 
lead to the rejection of your papers. 

3. Write all answers and exercises in ink. 

4. Write your name on no other sheet but this. 

Place this sheet in the envelope. Write your number on the en¬ 
velope and seal the same. 


DECLARATION. 

I declare upon my honour as follows: 

1. My true and full name is (if female, please say whether 
Mrs. or Miss) 

2. Since my application was made I have been living at (give 
all the places) 














338 


APPENDIX L 


3. My post-office address in full is 

4. If examined within twelve months for the civil service — 
for any post-office, custom-house, or Department at Washing¬ 
ton— state the time, place, and result. 

5. If you have ever been in the civil service, state where and 
in what position, and when you left it and the reasons therefor. 

6. Are you now under enlistment in the army or navy? 

7. If you have been in the military or naval service of the 
United States, state which, and whether you were honourably 
discharged, when, and for what cause. 

8. Since my application no change has occurred in my health 
or physical capacity except the following : 

9. I was born at-, on the-day of-, 188 . 

10. My present business or employment is 

11. I swore to my application for this examination as near as 

I can remember at (totvn or city of)-, on the-day 

of -, 188 . 

All the above statements are true, to the best of my knowl¬ 
edge and belief. 

(Signature in usual form .)- - 

Dated at the city of-, State of-, this-day 

of-, 188 . 


First Subject. 

Question 1. One of the examiners will distinctly read (at a 
rate reasonable for copying) fifteen lines from the Civil-Service 
Law or Rules, and each applicant will copy the same below from 
the reading as it proceeds. 

Question 2. Write below at length the names of fifteen States 
and fifteen cities of the Union. 

Question 3. Copy the following precisely: 

“ And in my opinion, sir, this principle of claiming monopoly 
of office by the right of conquest, unless the public shall effectu¬ 
ally rebuke and restrain it, will effectually change the charac¬ 
ter of our Government. It elevates party above country; it for¬ 
gets the common weal in the pursuit of personal emolument; it 
tends to form, it does form, we see that it has formed, a politi¬ 
cal combination, united by no oommon principles or opinions 
among its members, either upon the powers of the Government 
or the true policy of the country, but held together simply as an 
association, under the charm of a popular head, seeking to 
maintain possession of the Government by a vigorous exercise 














EXAMINATION PAPER. 


339 


of its patronage, and for this purpose agitating and alarming 
and distressing social life by the exercise of a tyrannical party 
proscription. Sir, if this course of things cannot be checked, 
good men will grow tired of the exercise of political privileges. 
They will see that such elections are but a mere selfish contest 
for office, and they will abandon the Government to the scram¬ 
ble of the bold, the daring, and the desperate.” — Daniel Web¬ 
ster on Civil Service, in 1832. 

Question 4. Correct any errors in spelling which you find in 
the following sentences, writing your letters so plainly that no 
one of them can be mistaken : 

Unquestionebly every federil offeser should be able to spell 
corectly the familier words of his own languege. 

Lose her hankercheif and elivate her head immediatly or she 
will spedily loose her life by strangelation. 

Second Subject. 

Question 1 . Multiply 2341705 by 23870 and divide the pro¬ 
duct by 6789. 

Give operation in full. 

Question 2. Divide two hundred and five thousand two hun¬ 
dred and five, and two hundred and five ten-thousandths, by 
one hundred thousand one hundred, and one hundredth. 

Question 3. Multiply 10-f by 7£ and divide the product by 9£, 
reducing the same to the simplest form. 

Give operation in full. 

Question 4. The annual cost of the public schools of a city is 
$36,848. What school-tax must be assessed, the cost of collect¬ 
ing being 2 per cent., and 6 per cent of the assessed tax being 
uncollectible ? 

Give operation in full. 

Question 5. Add 7f, f of 6f, 6£ divided by 8£, and re¬ 

duce to lowest terms. 

Give operation in full. 

Question 6. The Government sold 3000 old muskets at 22^ 
per cent, of their cost. The purchaser becoming insolvent paid 
only 13 per cent, of the price he agreed to pay; that is, he paid 
$900. What did each musket cost the Government? 

Give operation in full. 

Question 7. What will it cost to carpet a room 36 feet wide by 
72 feet long with -f width carpet at $2.12 per yard, including 




340 


APPENDIX I. 


cost of carpet-lining at 11 cents a square yard and 12 cents a 
yard for making and laying the carpet ? 

Give operation in full. 

Question 8. A owned of a ship and sold \ of his share to B, 
who sold of what he bought to C, who sold of what he 
bought to D. What part of the whole vessel did D buy? 

Give operation in full. 

Question 9. A man bought a cargo of wool and sold seven 
thousand and forty-five ten-thousandths of it. How much had 
he left? 

Give operation in full in decimal fractions. 

Question 10 . A merchant imported from Bremen 32 pieces of 
linen of 32 yards each, on which he paid for the duties, at 24 
per cent, $122.38, and other charges to the amount of $40.96. 
What was the invoice value per yard, and the cost per yard 
after duties and charges were paid ? 

Give operation in full. 

Third Subject. 

Question 1 . On a mortgage for $3,125, dated July 5, 1880 
(interest at 3£ per cent), a payment of $840 was made April 23, 
1881. What amount was due January 17, 1882? 

Give operation in full. 

Question 2. The Government sold an old vessel for $160,000, 
payable two fifths in eight months and the residue in seventeen 
months from the sale. What was the present cash value of the 
vessel, the current rate of interest on money being five per cent? 

Give operation in full. 

Question 3. Write a promissory note to be given by J. 
Brown to J. Smith, for 60 days, without grace, for $500, at 5 
per cent interest, and state what amount will be due at matu¬ 
rity of the note. 

Question 4. James X. Young, a contractor, had the follow¬ 
ing dealings with the Treasury Department : He furnished 
January 4, 1882, 14 tables at $16 each; June 6, 1882, 180 desks 
at $18.50 each; December 7, 1882, 150 chairs at $2 each, and 
July 18, 1883, 14 book-cases at $90 each. He was paid cash as 
follows: January 31, 1882, $224; June 30, $1,800; December 18, 
$300; and July 31, 1883, he was allowed on settlement $75 for 
cartage and charged $25 for breakages. State his account and 
show balance due. 


EXAMINATION PAPER . 341 

Fourth Subject. 

Question 1 . State the meaning of tense and of mood, and ex¬ 
plain the difference between them in the English language or 
grammar. 

Question 2. Correct any errors you find in the following sen¬ 
tences i 

The boy done it, and he is as restless here as he will be if he 
was with you. 

He had did it and spoke of doing it before we come here. 

Question 3. Write a letter to Senator Jackson answering in 
full his letter of September 7 to the Secretary of the Treasury 
in which he asks : “ How must my nephew proceed to obtain a 

clerkship in the Treasury Department, under the Civil-Service 
Law, and what are the requisite qualifications of a good 
clerk?” 


Fifth Subject. 

Question 1 . Write without abbreviation the names of fifteen 
seaports of the Union. 

Question 2. Name four of the principal tributaries of the 
Mississippi River. 

Question 3. Bound the State in which you live. 

Question 4. Which States are peninsular, and upon what 
waters are they situated ? 

Question 5. Name six of the principal railroads in the United 
States. 

Question 6. Name seven of the leading agricultural products 
of the United States, and state in what section of the country 
each is most extensively cultivated. 





342 


APPENDIX J. 


APPENDIX J. 

THE NEW YORK CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT OF 1890. 
Chap. 94. — An Act to amend title five of the Penal Code 

RELATING TO CRIMES AGAINST THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE. 

Approved by the Governor April 4,1890. Passed, three fifths being present. 

The People of the Slate of New York , represented in Senate and 
Assembly, do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Title five of tlie Penal Code, entitled “ Of crimes 
against the elective franchise,” is hereby amended so as to read 
as follows : 

§ 41. It shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, 
by himself or through any other person : 

1. To pay, lend, or contribute, or offer or promise to pay, lend, 
or contribute any money or other valuable consideration, to or 
for any voter, or to or for any other person, to induce such voter 
to vote or refrain from voting at any election, or to induce any 
voter to vote or refrain from voting at such election for any par¬ 
ticular person or persons, or to induce such voter to come to the 
polls or remain away from the polls at such election, or on ac¬ 
count of such voter having voted or refrained from voting or 
having voted or refrained from voting for any particular person, 
or having come to the poll or remained away from the polls at 
such election. 

2. To give, offer, or promise any office, place, or employment, 
or to promise to procure or endeavour to procure any office, 
place, or employment to or for any voter, or to or for any other 
person, in order to induce such voter to vote or refrain from 
voting at any election, or to induce any voter to vote or re¬ 
frain from voting at such election for any particular person or 
persons. 

3. To make any gift, loan, promise, offer, procurement, or 
agreement, as aforesaid, to, for, or with any person in order 
to induce such person to procure or endeavour to procure the 
election of any person, or the vote of any voter at any election. 

4. To procure or engage, promise or endeavour to procure, in 
consequence of any such gift, loan, offer, promise, procurement, 
or agreement, the election of any person or the vote of any voter 
at such election. 


NEW YORK CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT. 343 


5. To advance or pay or cause to be paid any money or other 
valuable thing to or for the use of any other person with the in¬ 
tent that the same, or any part thereof, shall be used in bribery 
at any election, or to knowingly pay, or cause to be paid, any 
money or other valuable thing to any person in discharge or re¬ 
payment of any money, wholly or in part, expended in bribery 
at any election. 

§ 41a. It shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indi¬ 
rectly, by himself or through any other person : 

1. To receive, agree, or contract for, before or during an 
election, any money, gift, loan, or other valuable consideration, 
office, place, or employment for himself or any other person, for 
voting or agreeing to vote, or for coming or agreeing to come to 

CT O O 7 O O o 

the polls, or for remaining away or agreeing to remain away 
from the polls, or for refraining or agreeing to refrain from vot¬ 
ing, or for voting or agreeing to vote or refraining or agreeing 
to refrain from voting for any particular person or persons at any 
election. 

2. To receive any money or other valuable thing during or 
after an election on account of himself or any other person hav¬ 
ing voted or refrained from voting at such election, or on account 
of himself or any other person having voted or refrained from 
voting for any particular person at such election, or on account 
of himself or any other person having come to the polls or re¬ 
mained away from the polls at such election, or on account of 
having induced any other person to vote or refrain from voting 
or to vote or refrain from voting for any particular person or per¬ 
sons at such election. 

41 b. It shall be unlawful for any candidate for public office, 
before or during an election, to make any bet or wager with a 
voter, or take a share or interest in or in any manner become a 
party to any such bet or wager, or provide or agree to provide 
any money to be used by another in making such bet or wager, 
upon any event or contingency whatever. Nor shall it be law¬ 
ful for any person, directly or indirectly, to make a bet or wager 
with a voter, depending upon the result of any election, with the 
intent thereby to procure the challenge of such voter, or to pre¬ 
vent him from voting at such election. 

§ 41c. It shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indi¬ 
rectly, by himself or any other person in his behalf, to make use 
of, or threaten to make use of, any force, violence, or restraint, 
or to inflict or threaten the infliction by himself, or through any 


344 


APPENDIX J. 


other person, of any injury, damage, harm, or loss, or in any 
manner to practice intimidation upon or against any person, in 
order to induce or compel such person to vote or refrain from 
voting at any election, or to vote or refrain from voting for any 
particular person or persons at any election, or on account of 
such person having voted or refrained from voting at any elec¬ 
tion. And it shall be unlawful for any person by abduction, 
duress, or any forcible or fraudulent device or contrivance what¬ 
ever to impede, prevent, or otherwise interfere with, the free 
exercise of the elective franchise by any voter ; or to compel, 
induce, or prevail upon any voter either to give or refrain from 
giving his vote at any election, or to give or refrain from giving 
his vote for any particular person at any election. It shall not 
be lawful for any employer in paying his employees the salary 
or wages due them to inclose their pay in “ pay envelopes ” upon 
which there is written or printed any political mottoes, devices, 
or arguments containing threats, express or implied, intended or 
calculated to influence the political opinions or actions of such 
employees. Nor shall it be lawful for any employer, within ninety 
days of general election to put up or otherwise exhibit in his fac¬ 
tory, work-shop, or other establishment or place where his em¬ 
ployees may be working, any hand-bill or placard containing any 
threat, notice, or information that in case any particular ticket or 
candidate shall be elected, work in his place or establishment 
will cease, in whole or in part, or his establishment be closed up, 
or the wages of his workmen be reduced, or other threats, express 
or implied, intended or calculated to influence the political opin¬ 
ions or actions of his employees. This section shall apply to 
corporations, as well as to individuals, and any person or corpo¬ 
ration violating the provisions of this section shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanour, and any corporation violating this 
section shall forfeit its charter. 

§ 41c?. Every candidate who is voted for at any public election 
held within this state shall, within ten days after such election, 
file as hereinafter provided an itemized statement, showing in 
detail all the moneys contributed or expended by him, directly 
or indirectly, by himself or through any other person, in aid of 
his election. Such statement shall give the names of the vari¬ 
ous persons who received such moneys, the specific nature of 
each item, and the purpose for which it was expended or con¬ 
tributed. There shall be attached to such statement an affidavit 
subscribed and sworn to by such candidate, setting forth in sub- 


NEW YORK CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT. 345 

stance that the statement thus made is in all respects true, and 
that the same is a full and detailed statement of all moneys 
so contributed or expended by him, directly or indirectly, by 
himself or through any other person in aid of his election. 
Candidates for offices to be filled by the electors of the entire 
state, or any division or district thereof greater than a county, 
shall file their statements in the office of the secretary of state. 
The candidates for town, village, and city offices, excepting the 
city of New York, shall file their statements in the office of the 
town, village, or city clerk respectively, and in cities wherein 
there is no city clerk, with the clerk of the common council 
wherein the election occurs. Candidates for all other offices, 
including all offices in the city and county of New York, shall 
file their statements in the office of the clerk of the county 
wherein the election occurs. 

§ 41e. A person offending against any provision of sections 
forty-one and forty-one-a of this act is a competent witness 
against another person so offending, and may be compelled to 
attend and testify upon any trial, hearing, proceeding, or inves¬ 
tigation in the same manner as any other person. But the tes¬ 
timony so given shall not be used in any prosecution or proceed¬ 
ing, civil or criminal, against the person so testifying. A person 
so testifying shall not thereafter be liable to indictment, prose¬ 
cution, or punishment for the offense with reference to which his 
testimony was given and may plead or prove the giving of 
testimony accordingly, in bar of such an indictment or prose¬ 
cution. 

§ 4iyi Whosoever shall violate any provision of this title, upon 
conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in a 
county jail for not less than three months nor more than one 
year. The offenses described in section 1 forty-one and forty- 
one-a of this act are hereby declared to be infamous crimes. 
When a person is convicted of any offense mentioned in sec¬ 
tion forty-one of this act he shall in addition to the punishment 
above prescribed, forfeit any office to which he may have been 
elected at the election with reference to which such offense was 
committed ; and when a person is convicted of any offense men¬ 
tioned in section forty-one-a of this act he shall in addition to 
the punishment above prescribed be excluded from the right of 
suffrage for a period of five years after such conviction, and it 
shall be the duty of the county clerk of the county in which 
1 So in the original. 


346 


APPENDIX J. 


any such conviction shall be had, to transmit a certified copy of 
the record of conviction to the clerk of each county of the state, 
within ten days thereafter, which said certified copy shall be 
duly filed by the said county clerks in their respective offices. 
Any candidate for office who refuses or neglects to file a state¬ 
ment as prescribed in section forty-one-d of this act shall be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanour, punishable as above provided 
and shall also forfeit his office. 

§ 41 g. Other crimes against the elective franchise are defined, 
and the punishment thereof prescribed by special statutes. 

§ 2. Section forty-one of the Penal Code, as it existed prior 
to the passage of this act, is hereby repealed. 

§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately. 


5 


FORM OF AUSTRALIAN BALLOT. 347 
APPENDIX K. 

FORM OF AUSTRALIAN BALLOT ADOPTED IN MASSA¬ 
CHUSETTS, 1889. 

OFFICIAL BALLOT 

FOR 

Precinct , Ward , 

OF (CITY OR TOWN), 

NOVEMBER , 18 . 

[Fac-Simile of Signature of Secretary.] 

Secretary of the Commonwealth. 


SAMPLE BALLOT, 

With explanations and illustration. 


Prepared by the Ballot Act League with the approval of the 
Secretary of the Commonwealth. 


Some representative districts elect one, some two, and a few 
three representatives to the General Court. Worcester County 
elects four commissioners of insolvency instead of three as 
in other counties. 

No county commissioners or special commissioners will be 
voted for in the cities of Boston and Chelsea or the county of 
Nantucket. 

Forms for nominating candidates can be had at the depart¬ 
ment of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. 

Carefully observe the official specimen ballots to be posted 
and published just before election day. 






348 


APPENDIX K 


To vote for a Person, 

mark a Cross X 


GOVERNOR . 

Vote for ONE. 

OLIVER AMES, of Easton. 

. . Republican. | 

WILLIAM H. EARLE, of Worcester 

. . Prohibition | 

WILLIAM E. RUSSELL, of Cambridge 

. . Democratic. | 


LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR . 

Vote for ONE. 

JOHN BASCOM, of Williamstown . . . . 

. . Prohibition. | 

JOHN Q. A. BRACKETT, of Arlington 

Republican. | 

JOHN W. CORCORAN, of Clinton . 

Democratic. | 


SECRETARY . 

. Vote for ONE. 

WILLIAM N. OSGOOD, of Boston . 

Democratic | 

HENRY B. PEIRCE, of Abington 

. . Republican. | 

HENRY 0. SMITH, of Williamsburg 

Prohibition. | 


TREASURER. 


JOHN M. FISHER, of Attleborough 

. . Prohibition. | 

GEORGE A. MARDEN, of Lowell .... 

Republican. | 

HENRY C. THACHER, of Yarmouth 

Democratic. | 


AUDITOR.♦ 


CHARLES R. LADD, of Springfield . 

. . Republican. | 

EDMUND A. STOWE, of Hudson .... 

Prohibition. | 

WILLIAM A. WILLIAMS, of Worcester . 

. . . Democratic. | 


ATTORNEY'-GENERAL . 

. Vote for ONE. 

ALLEN COFFIN, of Nantucket. 

Prohibition. | 

SAMUEL 0. LAMB, of Greenfield .... 

. . Democratic. | 

ANDREW .1. WATERMAN, of Pittsfield . 

Republican. | 


COUNCILLOR, Third District .... Vote for ONE. 


ROBERT 0. FULLER, of Cambridge. 

. Republican. 


WILLIAM E. PLUMMER, of Newton. 

Democratic. 


SYLVANUS C. SMALL, of Winchester .... 

. Prohibition. 



SENATOR, Third Middlesex District 

Vote for ONE. 

FREEMAN HUNT, of Cambridge. 

Democratic. 


CHESTER W. KINGSLEY, of Cambridge .... 

( Republican. 

| Prohibition. 



DISTRICT ATTORNEY, Northern District 

Vote for ONE. 

CHARLES S. LINCOLN, of Somerville .... 

. Democratic. | 

JOHN M. READ, of Lowell. 

Prohibition. 


WILLIAM B. STEVENS, of Stoneham .... 

. Republican. 







































































FORM OF AUSTRALIAN BALLOT. 


349 


in the Square at the right of the name. 


REPRESENTATIVES IN GENERAL 

First Middlesex District. 

COURT 

Vote for TWO. 

WILLIAM II. MARBLE, of Cambridge 

• • 

. Prohibition. ( 

ISAAC McLEAN, of Cambridge .... 

• 

. Democratic. | 

GEORGE A. PERKINS, of Cambridge . . 

• • 

. Democratic. | 

JOHN READ, of Cambridge. 



CHESTER F. SANGER, of Cambridge 

. 

. Republican. | 

WILLIAM A. START, of Cambridge 

• 

. Prohibition. | 



SHERIFF .... 

• 

Vote for ONE- 

HENRY G. CUSHING, of Lowell . 

• 

. Republican, j 

HENRY G. HARKINS, of Lowell 

• • 

. Prohibition. | 

WILLIAM H. SHERMAN, of Ayer 

• 

. Democratic. | 


COMMISSIONERS OF INSOLVENCY. 

Vote for THREE. 

JOHN W. ALLARD, of Framingham 

• 

. Democratic. | 

GEORGE J. BURNS, of Ayer .... 

. 

. Republican. | 

WILLIAM P. CUTTER, of Cambridge 

• • 

. Prohibition. | 

FREDERIC T. GREENHALGE, of Lowell . 

. 

. Republican. | 

JAMES HICKS, of Cambridge . 

. 

. Prohibition. | 

JOHN C. KENNEDY, of Newton .... 

• 

. Republican. | 

RICHARD J. McKELLEGET, of Cambridge . 

• • 

. Democratic. | 

EDWARD D. McVEY, of Lowell .... 

• 

. Democratic. | 

ELMER A. STEVENS, of Somerville . 

• • 

. Prohibition. | 




COUNTY COMMISSIONER. . 

• 

Vote for ONE. 

WILLIAM S. FROST, of Marlborough 

• • 

. Republican. | 

JOSEPH W. BARBER, of Sherborn 

. 

. Prohibition. | 

JAMES SKINNER, of Woburn .... 




SPECIAL COMMISSIONERS . 

. 

. Vote for TWO. 

HENRY BRAD LEE, of Medford 

• • 

. Democratic. | 

LYMAN DYKE, of Stoneham . ... 

• 

. Republican. | 

JOHN J. DONOVAN, of Lowell .... 



WILLIAM E. KNIGHT, of Shirley 

. 

. Prohibition. | 

ORSON E. MALLORY, of Lowell 

• • 

. Prohibition. | 

EDWIN E. THOMPSON, of Woburn . 

. 

. Republican. | 



■i 






































































350 


APPENDIX K. 



SKETCH OF POLLING PLACE. 


SUGGESTIONS TO VOTERS. 

Give your name and residence to the ballot clerk, who, on finding your name on 
the check list, will admit you within the rail and hand you a ballot. 

Go alone to one of the voting shelves and there unfold your ballot. 

Mark a cross X the square at the right of the name of each person for whom 
you wish to vote. No other method of marking, such as erasing names, will an¬ 
swer. 

Thus, if you wished to vote for John Bowles for Governor, you would mark 
your ballot in this way: — 


GOVERNOR . . . 

. . . . Vote for ONE. 

JOHN BOWLES, of Taunton 

. . . . Prohibition. | X 

THOMAS E. MEANS, of Boston . 

. . . . Democratic. | 

ELIJAH SMITH, of Pittsfield . 

. . . . Republican. | 



If you wish to vote for a person whose name is not on the ballot, write, or insert 
by a sticker, the name in the blank line at the end of the list of candidates for the 
office, and mark a cross X the square at the right of it. Thus, if you wished to 
vote for George T. Morton, of Chelsea, for Governor, you would prepare your bal¬ 
lot in this way : — 


GOVERNOR . 

.Vote for ONE. 

JOHN BOWLES, of Taunton 

.Prohibition. | 

THOMAS E. MEANS, of Boston 

.Democratic. | 

ELIJAH SMITH, of Pittsfield . 

.Republican. | 

George T. Morton , of Chelsea 

IX 


Notice, that for some offices you may vote for “ two ” or “ three ” candidates, as 
stated in the ballot at the right of the name of the office to be voted for, e. g.: 
“Commissioners of Insolvency. Vote for Three.” 

If you spoil a ballot, return it to the ballot clerk, who will give you another. 
You cannot have more than two extra ballots, or three in all. 











































































FORM OF AUSTRALIAN BALLOT. 351 


You cannot remain within the rail more than ten minutes, and in case all the 
shelves are in use and other voters waiting, you are allowed only five minutes at 
the voting shelf. 

Before leaving the voting shelf, fold your ballot in the same way as it was folded 
when you received it, and keep it so folded until you place it in the ballot box. 

Do not show any one how you have marked your ballot. 

Go'to the ballot box and give your name and residence to the officer in charge. 

Put your folded ballot in the box with the certificate of the Secretary of the 
Commonwealth uppermost and in sight. 

You are not allowed to carry away a ballot, whether spoiled or not. 

A voter who declares to the presiding official (under oath, if required) that he 
was a voter before May 1, 1857, and cannot read, or that he is blind or physically 
unable to mark his ballot, can receive the assistance of one or two of the election 
officers in the marking of his ballot. 



352 


APPENDIX L. 


APPENDIX L. 

KANSAS ELECTION LAW. 

State of Kansas, Executive Department. 

Office of Secretary of State. 

Topeka, Kansas, June 1, 1893. 

To the County Clerk and all Election Officers of the State of 
Kansas : 

Gentlemen, — In accordance with the requirements of sec¬ 
tion 31 of chapter 78, Session Laws of 1893, I submit herewith 
such instructions and approved forms as in the opinion of the 
Attorney-General and the Secretary of State may be necessary 
to enable you to carry into effect the provisions of the act of the 
legislature entitled “ An act to provide for the printing and distri¬ 
bution of ballots at the public expense, and for the nomination of 
candidates for public offices ; to regulate the manner of holding 
elections; and to enforce secrecy of the ballot, and to provide 
for the punishment of the violation of this act,” which act was 
approved March 11,1893, and is known as chapter 78 of the Ses¬ 
sion Laws of 1893. 

Under this act, it is made the duty of the township trustee of 
the respective townships, and the mayor and clerk of the re¬ 
spective incorporated cities, to provide suitable places in which to 
hold all elections provided for by this act, and to see that the same 
are warmed, lighted, and furnished with proper supplies and 
conveniences, including a sufficient number of guard rails, bal¬ 
lot-boxes, booths, shelves, pens, penholders, ink, blotters, and 
pencils, as will enable the voter to prepare his ballot for voting; 
such voting booths to be so constructed that the voter may pre¬ 
pare his ballot screened from all observation as to the manner 
in which he does so. The number of voting booths shall be 
not less than one to every sixty (60) voters, or fraction thereof, 
who voted at the last preceding general election in the respec¬ 
tive voting precincts in such township or city. The supplies 
above enumerated are to be furnished by the officers above men¬ 
tioned, at the expense of the respective townships and cities. 

It is urged upon all such officers the necessity of seeing that 
the legislative intent —the absolute secrecy of the ballot —is 
secured, and to this end it is suggested that, in the construction 
or arrangement of the voting booths, precaution be taken to pre- 


KANSAS ELECTION LAW. 352 a 

vent any communication being had from one booth to another 
without being observed by the judges of election. 

Neither the county nor county officers are authorized by law 
to obligate the county, townships, or cities to the payment of any 
expense connected with the purchase of such supplies. 

This act requires the officers whose duty it is to have the 
ballots printed (county clerk, in all general elections) to pre¬ 
pare full instructions for the guidance of voters, after they shall 
have obtained a ballot, as to the manner of marking them and 
the method of gaining assistance, and as to obtaining new bal¬ 
lots in the place of those accidentally spoiled, and to cause such 
instructions, together with the copies of sections 22, 23, 24, 25, 
26, 27, 28, and 29 of said act, to be printed in large, clear type, 
on cards to be called “Cards of Instruction,” and furnished 
to the judges of election, who are required to post not less than 
one of such cards in each voting booth, and not less than four 
in addition thereto in and about the polling place on the day 
of election. 

It is suggested that the following form of instructions be 
adopted by the various county clerks, which, it is believed, would 
meet the above requirements, and to which should be added the 
sections above enumerated : — 

CARD OF INSTRUCTIONS. 

To Obtain Ballot. — After giving your name and residence, if 
you are a voter, you will receive a ballot from one of the judges, with 
his initials indorsed thereon. Retire at once, alone, into any vacant 
voting booth to prepare your ballot. You will find printed on the bal¬ 
lot, in columns side by side, all the candidates of all the parties to be 
voted for at that election. At the top of each column you will find 
the name of each party “ ticket,” or list of candidates, as “ People’s 
Party,” “Republican,” “Democratic,” “ Prohibition,” etc. 

To Prepare your Ballot. — To the left of each name ou the 
ballot, you will find a square, thus: □; make a mark, thus: X> 
the square, at the left of the names of the persons you desire to vote 
for, (or write the names in the blank spaces, making a mark, thus: X. 
at the left of such names.) Your ballot will be counted only for the 
names marked. In voting for a “ public measure,” make a mark, 
thus: X, in the square at the left of the answer you want to give. 
Do not mark your ballot in any other way except as indicated above. 
Before leaving the booth, fold the ballot so as to conceal all names 
and marks on the face of the ballot, leaving in view the printed filing 
and initials of the judge of election indorsed on the outside. Leave 


352 b 


APPENDIX L. 


the booth and hand your ballot to the judge in charge of the ballot 
box, and leave the inclosed space without delay. 

In Preparing yodr Ballot. — You shall not remain in the in¬ 
closed space longer than ten minutes; nor in a booth longer than five 
minutes, if other voters are waiting. You will not be allowed to take 
a ballot from the polling place before the close of the election, nor to 
vote any ballot except the one received from the judge. If you spoil a 
ballot in preparing it, you must return it and get another. If you 
decide not to vote, return your ballot and retire from the inclosed 
space. 

Assisting a Voter. — Any voter who cannot read English, or w r ho 
is disabled, shall, upon request, be assisted by two election officers of 
opposite political parties, appointed for that purpose, who shall mark 
the ballot as directed by the voter. No intoxicated person shall be 
entitled to assistance in making his ballot. 

Certificates of all nominations of candidates for offices to be 
filled by the electors of the entire State, or any division thereof 
greater than a county, must be filed with the Secretary of State 
not more than sixty (CO) nor less than thirty (30) days prior 
to the day of election. Certificates of all other nominations of 
candidates (except for the offices in cities) must be filed with 
the county clerk of the respective counties not more than sixty 
(60) days nor less than twenty (20) days prior to such elec¬ 
tion. 

The Secretary of State is required, not less than fifteen (15) 
days before the election, to certify to the county clerk of each 
county within which any of the electors may, by law, vote for 
the candidates properly certified to him, the name and residence 
of each of such candidates, as specified in the certificates of 
nomination or nomination papers filed with him, and the county 
clerk is required to have the ballots for all general elections 
printed at the expense of the county ; the names of all the can¬ 
didates, properly nominated and duly certified, to be printed on 
one ballot; all nominations for any political party or group of 
petitioners being placed in separate columns under the party 
appellation or title of such party or group as designated in the 
certificates, and immediately below such party appellation or title 
must be printed the following statement: “Electors will make a 
cross mark, thus : in the square at the left of the name of 

the candidate for whom they wish to vote.” 

It is believed that the following form of ticket is in strict com¬ 
pliance with the law : — 


KANSAS ELECTION LAW. 


352c 


If a constitutional amendment is submitted to a vote, such 
proposed amendment should be printed upon the ballot after 
the list of candidates, as follows : — 

“Shall the following amendment be adopted? 


(Here insert the proposed amendment.)” 


If any other public measure is proposed to be voted upon by 
the people, instead of the above use the following : — 

“ Shall the following be adopted ? 


(Here insert the designated title to proposed pub¬ 
lic measure.) ” 


The county clerk is required to have the ballots printed and 
in his possession at least five days before the election, accom¬ 
panied by exact copies of said ballot, printed on paper of any 
color other than white, for the inspection of candidates and 
their agents ; and the county clerk is further required to cause 
to be delivered to the judges of the election, at the polling place 
of each voting precinct, not less than twelve (12) hours before 
the time fixed by law for the opening of the polls therein, one 
hundred (100) ballots of the kind to be voted in such precinct 
for every fifty (50) voters or fraction thereof cast therein at the 
last preceding election for state officers. 

The township trustees of the respective townships, and the 
mayors of the respective incorporated cities, are required, at 
least five (5) days before any election, to appoint three (3) 
judges and two (2) clerks of election for each voting precinct 
in such township or city, and cause said judges and clerks to 
be notified in writing of their appointment ; no more than two 
(2) judges and no more than one (1) clerk to belong to the same 
political party or organization : Provided , There be one or more 
electors qualified and willing to act as such judge or clerk, and 
belonging to and a member or members of opposite parties; and 
each person so appointed is required, at least one day before 
election, to appear before such township trustee or clerk of such 
city, as the case may be, and take and subscribe an oath to 
faithfully and honestly discharge his duties as such judge or 
clerk. 


>vO 

Yes. 


- No. 


kx: 

i Yes. 

1r\ 

■ No. 











852 d 


APPENDIX L. 


The judges and clerks should, immediately after their being 
notified of their appointment, appear before the trustee or clerk, 
as the case may be, and take and subscribe the oath required, 
in order that the county clerk may be promptly notified by the 
trustee or clerk of such appointment or qualification, thus ad¬ 
vising him as to the proper persons to whom the ballots should 
and must be delivered 12 hours before the election. 

The county clerk is also required to cause to be published (at 
least once), prior to the day of election, in at least two news¬ 
papers, if there be so many published in such county, represent¬ 
ing the political parties which cast at the preceding general 
election the largest and next largest number of votes, a list of 
all the nominations made, as provided by said act, and to be 
voted for at such election, as near as may be in the form in 
which they may appear upon the general ballot. 

The county clerk is also required to provide and retain at his 
office an ample supply of ballots, in addition to those distributed 
to the several voting precincts, to be furnished to any precinct 
requiring same, by reason of the supply already furnished hav¬ 
ing been lost, destroyed, or exhausted before the polls are closed, 
as required by section 15 of said act. 

The county clerks of the several counties of the State have 
entire charge of the printing of cards of instruction to voters 
and the ballots for all general elections, and their distribution, 
together with the publication of the list of candidates nominated, 
furnishing the poll books and other necessary blanks connected 
with or growing out of the provisions of this act, (except the 
books of registration required in cities of the first and second 
class,) the same to be done at the expense of the county in the 
first instance ; such expense to be apportioned by the board of 
county commissioners among the various townships and cities of 
the first and second class in such counties in proportion to the 
vote cast at the last preceding election in each township and 
city, and to be paid for by such townships and cities by warrants 
drawn in favor of the proper county incurring such expense. 

The provisions of said act do not apply to school-district 
elections or meetings located outside the limits of an incorpo¬ 
rated city. . . . 

The county clerk should procure a record book in which to 
enter the list of names of candidates certified to him, £dvin< r the 
name of the office to which the respective candidates were nom« 
inated, political party making such nominations, etc. 


KANSAS ELECTION LAW. 


352e 


The clerk should also procure a register in which to make 
record of ballots issued at each election, showing the date of 
issue, to whom given, for what precinct, the number of ballots 
delivered, date of return of ballots, number unused, the number 
objected to or defective, and the number voted ; also date of 
destruction of the ballots, and names of witnesses to such de¬ 
struction, and their politics. 

It is hoped that if the election law and the suggestions herein 
made are carefully followed, the elections in this State will be 
free from fraud and corruption, and the will of the voters can 
and will be ascertained. 

R. S. Osborn, Secretary of State. 

Approved by John T. Little, Attorney General . 


PEOPLE’S PARTY. REPUBLICAN. DEMOCRATIC. PROHIBITION. 


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INDEX 


Abbots, 50. 

Adams, H,, 277. 

Adams, H. B., xiii., 46, 98. 

Adams, H. C., 272. 

Adams, J., 227, 232, 235. 

Adams, J. Q., 227, 263. 

Adams, S., 31, 162. 

Adirondacks, 127. 

Agora , 34. 

Alabama, shire towns in, 62. 

Aladdin’s lamp, 133. 

Albany Congress, 203. 

Aldermen, 102, 107, 108, 111, 114, 122. 
Alexander VI., 140. 

Alfred the Great, 9, 40, 43, 51. 

Alice in the Looking-Glass Country, 84. 
Allinson, E. P., 134. 

Ambassadors, 238. 

Amending constitutions, 195, 248. 
Amendments to Constitution of United 
States, 190, 227, 256. 

Andrews, C. M., 46. 

Andrews, E. B., 273. 

Andros, Sir E., 149. 

Annapolis, 113, 206. 

Arthur, C. A., 264. 

Articles of Confederation, 205, 248. 
Assemblies, colonial, 154, 160; dissolu¬ 
tion of, 161, 165; primary and repre¬ 
sentative, 99. 

Assessment and collection of taxes, 
25-29, 33, 45, 51, 63, 77, 78. 

Assessors, 20, 21, 24-29, 33, 41, 45, 78, 
79, 116. 

Assistants, in New York, 111; in Massa¬ 
chusetts, 147. 

Athens, 34, 172. 

Attainder, 247. 

Attorney-generals, 169, 240. 

Auditors, 130, 169. 

Australia, 57. 

Australian ballot, 265. 

Babeau, A., 15. 

Bigehot, W., 274. 

Bailiffs, 36, 75. 

Ballot, 24, 265. 

Baltimore, Loi’d, 150. 

Bancroft, G., 185, 272. 

Band-of-States and Banded-State, 244 
250. 


Bank, national, 260. 

Barrington, 36. 

Barrows, W., 186. 

Base lines, 82, 88. 

Beadles, 36, 38. 

Beckford, W., 109. 

Bemis, E., 89, 92, 94, 98. 

Berkeley, Lord, 144, 152. 

Bill of Rights, 190, 256. 

Board of estimate in Brooklyn, 131. 
Bolling, J., 58. 

Bonham, J. M., 274. 

Boroughs, 50 ; in England, 103-111 ; ic 
some American states, 103. 
Borough-reeves, 106. 

Boston, 27, 31, 85, 101, 102, 119, 139; 

list of city officials, 122. 

Bourinot, J. G., 98. 

Bouvier, J., 189. 

Bowen, F., 277 
Brentano, L., 139. 

Bribery, 129, 266. 

Brigandage in England in fourteenth 
century, 52. 

Bristol, 106. 

Brooklyn, 116, 119, 130-133, 137. 
Brotherhoods, 75, 76. 

Browne, W. H., 151, 185. 

Buchanan, J., 231. 

Buckle, H. T., 15. 

Btigbee, J. M., 123, 139. 

Bundesstaat , 244. 

Bunker Hill, 158, 205. 

Burgesses, 103, 146. 

Burgesses, House of, 145, 155. 

Burgoyne, J., 208. 

Burgundy, Duke of, 1. 

Burr, A., 227. 

Bryce, J., 193, 216, 217, 233, 272. 
By-laws, 31,34, 36, 38, 69, 112. 

Cabinet, 236-240. 

Cabinet vs. presidential government, 
167-169, 236. 

Cabot, J., 140. 

Cairo, Ill., 89. 

California, 57, 93, 95. 

Calvert, C., 150. 

Cambridge, Eng., 103. 

Cambridge, Mass., 17, 102, 271.. 

Carr, D., 203. 





354 


INDEX . 


Carr, L., 186. 

Carteret, Sir G., 145, 152. 

Cartier, J., 140. 

“ Casters,” castra, 104, 114. 

Cato, 65. 

Caucus, congressional, 232. 

Cemeteries, 2. 

Centralization vs. local self-government, 
274. 

Centralized administration in France, 
173, 174. 

Century, 76. 

Chalmers, M. D., 50, 273. 

Chamberlains, 111. 

Chancellor, 221. 

Channing, E., 46, 58, 64. 

Charing Cross, 108. 

Charles I., 143, 150. 

Charles II., 143, 149, 193. 

Charles City county, Va., 62. 

rihfivlpfl TIVPT* 1-if) 

Charleston, S. C. (city), 72,73; (county), 
74. 

Charter of Connecticut, 193; of Mary¬ 
land, 150; of 1606, 142. 

Charters of Massachusetts, 146,149,202, 
204. 

Charters and constitutions, 188, 189. 

Charters of mediaeval towns, 188. 

Cheating the government, 28. 

Cherokees, 75. 

Cheshire, a county palatine, 150. 

“ Chesters,” castra , 104, 114. 

Chicago, 27, 85, 86, 116, 119. 

Chimneys, 121. 

Christendom, 188. 

Churches, 16, 37, 38. 

Church-rates, 37. 

Churchwardens, 38, 59. 

Circumlocution office, 126. 

Cities, 50; in Virginia, 58, 146; defini¬ 
tion of, in England and in the United 
States, 103 ; rapid growth of, 119, 137 ; 
government of, 116-139 ; debts of, 120, 
127, 134 ; corruption in, 110, 114, 118, 
135. 

Citizens, duty of, 10, 11. 

Civil service, 128, 132, 261-264. 

Civil War, 73, 80, 170, 177, 246, 258, 263. 

Clans, 35, 45, 104; their relation to 
tribes, 49, 54; to hundreds, 75,80. 

Clay, H., 232. 

Clergymen formerly supported by taxa¬ 
tion, 46.' 

Clerk, city, 111, 123; county, 63, 73; 
market, 111; parish, 38 ; town, 20,24, 
32, 33, 79; vestry, 38, 59. 

Cleveland, G., 231, 264. 

“ Cloister and the Hearth,” 1. 

Close corporations, 60, 63, 79, 110. 

Collectors of taxes, 21, 38, 79. 

Colorado, 93, 95. 

Columbia, S. C., 73. 

Comitia, 34. 

Committees of city council, 116, 125 ; of 
correspondence, 162, 203; of legisla¬ 
tive bodies, 168; of safety, 162; inef¬ 
ficient for executive work, 126. 

Common council, 102, 103, 107, 108, 114. 

Common drivers, 38. 


Common pasture, 18. 

Commons, House of, 8, 13, 40, 50, 110, 
135, 146, 161, 165, 193, 220. 

Commonwealth, 5. 

Communes in France, 173. 

Company, London, 141, 159; of Massa¬ 
chusetts Bay, 146,147,159 ; Plymouth, 
141, 159. 

Complexity of city administration, 122- 
124, 137. 

Comptrollers, 130, 169. 

Comstock, J. M., 264, 275. 

Confederacy, New England, 202. 

Confederation distinguished from fed¬ 
eral union, 244, 250. 

Confederation, the Articles of, 205, 248. 

Congress, at Albany, 203; Stamp Act, 
203; Continental, 7, 204-210, 253; 
Provincial, 162, 204 ; Federal, 212-218, 
244. 

Connecticut, 253, 255; settlement of, 17, 
143; size of counties in, 74; colonial 
government of, 149,153,159, 163; fun¬ 
damental orders of, 192 ; compromise, 
214. 

Constables, 2, 21, 24, 32, 33, 37, 39, 68, 
79, 87, 123; high, 76, 77, 111; petty, 
36. 

Constitutions, written, 187-200. 

Constituent Assembly of 1790 in France, 
i74. 

Construction, strict and loose, 259. 

Consular service, 238. 

Contagious diseases, 20. 

Contract, legal idea of, developed by the 
Romans, 188. 

Convention, the Federal, 209, 243, 253. 

Conventions, definition of, 195; nomi¬ 
nating, 233. 

Cooley, T. M., 186, 275. 

Cooke, J. E., 186. 

Cornwallis, Lord, 258. 

Coroners, 51, 54, 63, 73, 78, 111. 

Correction lines, 83. 

Cotton, J., 17. 

Council, governor’s, 155; privy, 155, 
193, 237. 

Counts, 51. 

County, 25, 38, 48-100 ; origin of, 49, 
54; in Massachusetts, 54-57; in Vir¬ 
ginia, 57-67; in South Carolina, 73, 
74; in Maryland, 77 ; in Delaware, 78 ; 
in Pennsylvania, 78-80 ; in New York, 
79, 80 ; in the West, 84-98 ; sizes of, 
61, 68, 74, 80 ; shapes of, 84, 85, 88. 

County boards, 92, 93, 99; commission¬ 
ers, 55, 73, 78 ; courts, 51, 54, 61, 148; 
lieutenants, 64 ; treasurers, 55, 63. 

Courts, baron, 36, 75, 150; circuit, 250; 
city, 111, 178; common pleas, 112; 
coroners’, 51; county, 51, 61, 64, 78, 
148, 178; district, 250; federal, 207, 
250-252; general, 41, 148, 192; hun¬ 
dred, 76 ; insolvency, 55; leet, 36, 38, 
75, 150; levy, 78; probate, 55; Quar¬ 
ter Sessions, 52; superior, 55, 178; su¬ 
preme, 178 ; Supreme, of United 
States, 169, 250-252 ; of Appeals in 
Cases of Capture, 207; actions and 
procedure in,69. 





INDEX. 


355 


Court-day in Virginia, G5. 

Court-houses, 55, 62. 

Crawford, W. H., 232, 262, 264. 
Cressingham, 36. 

Cromwell, O., 110, 191. 

Crowner, or coroner, 51. 

Curia , 76. 

Custom-house duties, 157, 175, 257-259. 

Dakota, 85, 91, 92, 94. 

Davenport, J., 17. 

Davis, H., 200. 

Dawes, Miss A. L., 273. 

Debts of cities, 120, 127, 134. 
Declaration of rights, 190. 

Dedham, Mass., 22. 

Deeds, 55, 68. 

Deerfield, Mich., 83, 84. 

Delaware, 210, 213, 225, 255 ; local insti¬ 
tutions in, 78. 

Delinquents, 21. 

Delusions about government, 30, 33, 
133. 

Demagogues, 30, 133. 

Democracy, unbridled, 169. 

Democratic party, 260. 

Denizens, 165. 

Denmark, 205, 238. 

Denver, Colo., 119. 

Departments in France, 173. 

Deputies in Massachusetts, 137. 

Dickens, C., 14, 126. 

Diocese and city, 103. 

Diplomatic service, 238. 

Direct and indirect government, 99-104. 
Discreet men, 40. 

Disorders in 1786, 209. 

Dissolution of assemblies, parliaments, 
etc., 161, 165. 

District of Columbia, 244. 

District attorneys, 251. 

Districts, in South Carolina, 72, 73; 

electoral, 216. 

Dole, C. F., 273. 

Dole, E. P., 70, 186, 275. 

Dongan, T., 111. 

Dorchester Company, 146, 159. 
Dorchester, Mass., 17. 

Douglas, S. A., 230. 

Duellists, 165. 

Dunn, J. P., 186. 

Durham, a county palatine, 150. 

Dutch in New Netherland, 79, 98, 111, 
144. 

Ealdormen , 49-51. 

East Anglia. 50. 

East India Company, 157. 

East Saxons, 49. 

Eaton, D. B., 275. 

Ecclesia , 34. 

Educational value of town-meetingo, 31, 
34. 

Edward I., 40, 51. 

Edward III., 52. 

Egleston, M., 46. 

Elastic Clause, 245, 259. 

Election of Congress, 219. 

Elective and appointive officers, 132. 
Elective judiciary, 179. 


Electoral commission, 228. 

Electoral college, in Maryland, 164; for 
electing president of United States. 
229-235. * 

Elizabeth, queen of England, 77. 

Elting, I., 98. 

Ely, R. T., 275. 

Emerson, T., xvii. 

Eminent domain, 4, 12, 13. 

England, 5-8, 12, 16, 17, 35-45, 48-54, 
58, 75-77, 95, 100, 103-111, 113, 114, 
135, 140-146, 153, 164, 172, 177, 184* 
187, 189-193, 197-202, 220, 234, 237. 
Entails in Virginia, 58. 

Envoys, 238. 

Essex, Eng., 49. 

Essex, Mass., 53. 

Eternal vigilance the price of liberty, 11. 
Excise, 258. 

Executive and legislative departments 
separated in the United States, but 
not in Europe, 167-169, 235, 236. 
Exemptions from taxation, 26, 33. 
Exports, prohibition of duties on, 246. 

Fairfax Court House, Va., 62. 

Faneuil Hall, 101, 123. 

Farms in New England, 18, 32. 

Farrer, T. H., 273. 

Federalist, the, 276. 

Federalist party, 259. 

Fence-viewers, 23, 33, 38, 79, 123. 
Field-drivers, 23, 33, 123. 

Fines for non-attendance, 19. 

Finsbury,108. 

Fires and fire departments, 2, 121. 
Firma burgi , 109, 111. 

Fiske, J., American Political Ideas, 47 ; 
Beginnings of New England, 143,149; 
Critical Period of American History, 
14, 9S, 165, 206, 213, 246, 272; War of 
Independence, 14, 158. 

Florence, 172. 

Florida, 202, 228. 

Ford, W. C., 272. 

Foreign voters, 133-135. 

Foresight, lack of, 121. 

Forum , 34. 

Foster, W. E., xvi., 277. 

France, 7, 12, 161, 207, 208. 

Franklin, B., 126, 163, 203, 209, 224. 
Freedom of speech and press, 256. 
Freedom too often destroyed in tha 
process of nation-building, 39. 
Freeman, E. A., 9, 46, 105, 273. 

French in Canada, 202 ; claims to the 
possession of North America, 140,159; 
words in English, 5. 

Gage, T., 162. 

Gardiner, S. R., 191, 200. 

Garfield, J. A., 231. 

Gay, S. H., 277. 

General Court, 41, 148, 192. 

General Sessions, 53. 

George II., 8. 

George III., 109, 142,158, 210. 

Georgia, 144, 153, 255. 

Germans, 35, 72. 

Gerry, E., 216, 217. 



856 


INDEX , 


“ Gerrymander,” 217. 

Gilman, D. C., 277. 

Gladstone, W. E., 6. 

Gneist, R., 139, 273. 

Gomme, G. L., 47. 

Government, definition of, 5-8, 12; de¬ 
lusions about, 30, 33, 133 ; direct and 
indirect, 99-104; always cumbrous, 
169. 

Governor-general, 224. 

Governors, royal, 66, 125, 163 ; republi¬ 
can, before the Revolution, 148 ; since 
the Revolution, 169-171. 

Gouverner, 5. 

Grant, U. S., 234. 

Greeks, 34, 75, 80, 125. 

Green, J. R., 189. 

Guatemala, 238. 

Gubernare, 5. 

Guilds, 107, 108, 115, 139. 

Hamilton, A., 209, 257-259, 261, 276. 
Hanover Court House, Va., 62. 

Harrison, B., 231. 

Hartford, Conn., 62, 192. 

Harvard College, 22. 

Haste in constructing public work3,120. 
Hayes, R. B., 228, 231. 

Haywards, 38. 

Hearn, W. E., 47. 

Henry I., 106, 109. 

Henry VIII., 9, 52. 

Henry of Keighley, 220. 

Henry, Patrick, 67. 

Higginson, F., 17. 

Hill, F. A., xiv. 

Hinsdale, B. A., 81. 

History, study of, 9, 10, 13. 

Hitchcock, H., 179, 195, 200. 

Holcomb, W. P., 79, 139. 

Holland, 7, 207. 

Holst, H. von, 275. 

Hooker, T., 17. 

Hosmer, J. K.,31, 191, 277. 

House of Burgesses, 145,155 ; Commons, 
8, 13, 40, 50, 110, 135, 146, 161, 165, 
193, 220; Lords, 50, 164, 165, 221 ; 
Representatives, state, 165; Repre¬ 
sentatives, federal, 212-221, 244. 
Howard, G. E., 46, 60, 64, 70, 79, 85, 92. 
Howe, W. W., 139. 

Hudson river, 141. 

Huguenots, 71. 

Hundred, origin of, 75, 76, 80; courts, 
76, 80, 105; in some cases equivalent 
to a borough, 105, 114; in Delaware, 
78, 80. 

Hundredman, 76. 

Hundred-meetings in Maryland, 77. 
Hungerford, Sir T , 220. 

Hutchinson, T., 155. 

Icklingham, 49. 

Illinois, 81, 87, 95, 253; township and 
county government in, 89-91, 96. 
Impeachment, 221. 

Imperntor, 225. 

Indentured servants. 58. 

Indiana, 81, 90, 253 ; townships in, 92. 
Indians, 18, 32, 34, 75, 80, 146, 156, 202. 


Ingle, E., 64, 70, 98. 

Inquests, 52. 

Inspectors of buildings, 122; of elec¬ 
tions, 79. 

“ Instrument of Government,” the, 191. 
Insurrections, 56, 69. 

Intercitizenship, 248. 

Interior, department of, 240. 

Internal improvements, 260. 

Iowa, 95, 195 ; townships in, 192. 

Jackson, A., 232, 262, 263. 

Jails, 2, 58. 

James I., 110, 143. 

James II., 144, 152, 190. 

James City county, Va., 62. 

James river, 142. 

Jameson, J. F., Ill, 176, 207, 272. 
Jamestown, 146. 

Jay, J., 276. 

Jefferson, T., 58, 60, 65, 81, 227, 232, 
234, 235, 259, 260, 261. 

Jevons, W. S., 277. 

John, King of England, 189. 

Johns Hopkins University Studies in 
History and Politics , 31, 46, 58, 64, 
70, 72, 79, 89, 90, 92, 94, 98, 120, 123, 
139, 176, 272. 

Johnson, A., 221. 

Johnson, J., 98. 

Johnson, R. M.,228. 

Johnston, A., 154,185, 200, 275. 

Journal of Congress, 219. 

Judges, city, 116; federal, 250-252; ap¬ 
pointment or election, and tenure of 
office, 179. 

Jurisdiction, federal, 251. 

Jurors, 20, 21, 52, 78. 

Justices in eyre , 51. 

Justices of the peace, 87, 108, in Eng¬ 
land, 52 ; in Massachusetts, 53, 55 ; in 
Virginia, 61; in Delaware, 78. 

Kansas, 85, 94, 95 ; townships in, 92. 
Kennebec river, 142. 

Kent, kingdom of, 50. 

Kentucky, 90; shire towns in, 62 ; size 
of counties in, 74; settlement of, 81, 
88 . 

Kidnapping, 58. 

King, R., 186. 

Kings, 39, 50, 51, 112, 157, 164. 

Kitchin, G. W., 14. 

Lacombe, P., 14. 

Laird, 19. 

Lalor, J. J., 275. 

Lancaster, duchy of, 150. 

Land grants in Massachusetts, 17; in 
Virginia, 58. 

Lanesborough, Mass., 27. 

Laveleye, E., 47. 

Lawton, G. W., 275. 

Lecky, W. E. H., 15. 

Legal tender, 245. 

Legislation in New York with reference 
to cities, 128. 

Leicester, S. de Montfort, Earl of, 40, 
110, 115. 

Levermore, C. H., 139. 




INDEX 


357 


Levy court in Delaware, 78. 

Lewes, battle of, 110. 

Lewis, Sir G. C., 274. 

Lexington, 158. 

Liberty, the French notion of, 174. 
Libraries, public, 2. 

Licenses, 20. 

Lieutenant-governors, 1G4. 

Lincoln, A., 6, 32, 170, 230, 231. 

Lions, 35. 

Liquid measures, shrinkage of, 29. 
Livingston county, Mich., 84. 

Local government in New England and 
in Virginia before the Revolution, 
contrasted, 64-67. 

Local option between township and 
county government, 90-92, 96. 

Local self-government vs. centralization, 
274. 

Locke, J., 188. 

Lodge, H. C., 185, 277. 

Loftie, W. J., 108, 139. 

“Log-rolling,” 93, 125, 127, 129. 
London, 85, 106-110, 113, 115,139. 
London Company, 141, 159. 

Longman, W., 52. 

Lord-lieutenants, 52, 64, 108. 

Lord mayors of London, 107, 108. 

Lords, House of, 50, 164, 165, 221. 

Lords of the manor, 19, 37, 38, 50, 75, 
76. 

Lords proprietary, 150-153. 

Louis XIV., 8, 9. 

Louis XV., 7, 8. 

Louisiana, 95, 228; parishes, 48; pur¬ 
chase, 253. 

Low, S., 120, 121, 130, 139. 

Lowell, A. L., 169, 274. 

Lynch law, 72, 80, 97, 171. 

MacAlister, J., vi., 273. 

Machine, 132. 

Macy, J., 98, 273. 

Madison, J., 67, 209. 

Magazine of American History, 111. 
“Magic fund” delusion, 30, 33, 86, 
133. 

Magna Cliarta, 39, 189, 197. 

Magruder, A. B., 277. 

Maine, 143, 218. 

Maine, Sir H., 47, 274. 

Maitland, F. W., 273. 

Makeshifts, tendency to adopt them, 

121 . 

Manors, 36, 39, 75. 

Marblehead, Mass., 89. 

March-meetings, 39. 

Marcy, W. L., 263. 

Mark , 35, 43. 

Marriage certificates, 21. 

Marshall, J., 67. 

Marshals, 207, 251. 

Martin, G. H., 46, 70, 272. 

Mary II., 190. 

Maryland, 144, 195, 253, 256 ; local insti¬ 
tutions in, 75-77, 80; founding of, 
150, 151, 160. 

Mason and Dixon’s line, 152, 160. 
Massachusetts, 16, 74, 110, 143,146,253, 
255, 265, 


May, Sir E., 135. 

Mayflower compact, 192. 

Mayors, 102, 111, 114, 116, 122, 125, 127. 
130-132, 136 ; of London, 107, 108; iii 
France, 173. 

Mead, E. D., 275. 

“Mean whites,” their origin, 59. 
Measurers of wood, 23, 24, 33. 
Meeting-houses, 19. 

Mercia, 50. 

Meridian, principal, 81-83, 88. 
Merrimack river, 146. 

Messages, governor’s, 170; president’s. 
235. 

Mexico 141 254 

Michigan, 81, 82, 89, 90,95, 195,253, 
county board in, 92. 

Middle Saxons, 49. 

Middlesex, Eng., 49. 

Middlesex, Mass., 53. 

Militia, 52, 64, 77, 170. 

Minneapolis, 86. 

Minnesota, 91, 93, 95. 

Mir , in Russia, 42. 

Missouri, 90-92, 225; townships in, 92. 
Mitchell’s Atlas, 62. 

Moderators, 24. 

Mohawks, 75. 

Mommsen, T., 9. 

Monroe, J., 231. 

Montana, 93. 

Montfort, S. de, 40, 110, 115. 
Montgomerie charter in New York, 112. 
Morris, R., 206. 

Morse, J. T., 234, 277. 

Moses, B., 139. 

Municipal Corporations Reform Act, 
111, 135. 

Municipal government in England, 103- 
111 ; in the United States, 111-136, 
138; politics should be kept clear of 
national politics, 135. 

Names, geographical, their significance, 
36, 49, 54, 62, 103. 

Napoleon I., 174. 

Nasse, E., 47. 

National Republicans, 259 
Navy department, 240. 

Nebraska, 85, 92, 94. 

Negroes, 58, 94. 

Nevada, 93. 

New England, settlement of, 16, 32. 

New Hampshire, 53, 94, 143, 195, 199, 
256. 

New Haven, 139, 143. 

New Jersey, 145. 230, 255. 

New Netlierland, 144, 152. 

New Orleans, 139. 

New York (city), 27, 101, 111-113, 115, 
119, 127-129, 206; (state), 79, 81, 90, 
127-129, 145, 195, 213, 225, 253, 256, 
261; influence of, upon the North 
west, 80. 

Newcastle, 106. 

Newfoundland, 140. 

Newspapers, 31, 100. 

Nichols, R., 111. 

Nordhoff, C., 273. 

Norfolk, Eng., 49. 




358 


INDEX. 


Norfolk (1G43) in Massachusetts, 53. 
Norman Conquest, 36, 51, 54, 76, 105. 
North Carolina, 62, 144, 153, 256. 
Northam, H. C. 273. 

Northumbria, 50. 

Norwich, Eng., 106, 111. 

Nuisances, 20. 

Numbering of streets, 84. 

Oglethorpe, J., 153. 

Ohio, 81, 90, 195, 253. 

“One-man power,” 125, 130, 137. 
Ordinance of 1785 concerning survey of 
public lands, 81, 88. 

Ordinance of 1787 establishing govern¬ 
ment of northwestern territory, 90, 
253, 255. 

Oregon, 81, 82, 93, 254. 

Overseers of the poor, 20, 21, 33, 38, 60, 

78, 79, 87, 116, 122; of roads, in 
Maryland, 77; of towns, in New York, 

79. 

Oxford, 103. 

Paestum, 101. 

Palatine counties, 150,160. 

Paper money, 7, 245, 246. 

Pardon, governor’s prerogative, 170; 
too freely used in United States, 171; 
president’s, 234. 

Parishes, in England, 36-39, 41, 43, 45, 
46 ; in Louisiana, 48 ; in South Caro¬ 
lina, 71-73; in Virginia, 59-61, 65. 
Paris, 173. 

Parliament, 6, 155 ; its supremacy never 
admitted in America, 156, 160; disso¬ 
lution of, 161, 165; the Model, 40. 
Parties, origin of, 245, 249. 

Partition fences, 23. 

Party politics, 132, 135. 

Patronage, 264. 

Paupers, 21. 

Peers, creation of, 165. 

Pellew, G., 277. 

Penn, W., 145, 141, 203. 

Pennsylvania, 81, 95, 152, 202, 210, 255, 
258, 261; local institutions in, 78; 
Municipal Commission, 134. 

Penrose, B., 134. 

Perjury, 27. 

Personal property, taxation of, 25-28, 
45. 

Perry, A. L., 277. 

Petersburg, Va., 89. 

Phear, Sir J. B., 47. 

Philadelphia, 119, 133, 204; streets in, 
83, 84 ; municipal government of, 113, 
115, 116, 139. 

Phratries, 75. 

Plantagenet period, 78. 

Plantations, 146. 

Plymouth, colony of, 143. 

Plymouth Company, 141, 159. 

Police, 52, 113, 122; commissioners, 
128 

Polk, J. K., 231. 

Poll-tax, 25, 33. 

Poore, B. P., 276. 

Poorhouses, 2, 21, 122. 

Population, rural and urban, 119. 


Port-reeves, 106. 

Porter, J. A., 139. 

Portland, Oregon, 82, 145. 

Portugal, 205. 

Posse comitatus, 51, 56. 

Postmaster-general, 240. 

Pound-keepers, 23, 33. 

Pound-masters, 79. 

Precincts in Virginia, 63. 

Prefects in France, 173. 

Premiers, 236, 237. 

President, origin of the title, 163, 224; 
of councils, 162-163; of provincial 
congresses, 162; of the Continental ' 
Congress, 206; of the United States, 
222-236; nomination of, 233; veto 
power of, 222 ; his appointments, 261- 
264. 

Presidential succession, 228. 

Preston, H., 200, 276. 

Prices affected by paper money, 246 ; 
and by tariff, 258. 

Primaries, 233. 

Priors, 50. 

Privilege from arrest, etc., 220. 

Probate courts, 55, 73. 

Probyn, J. W., 274. 

Proprietary colonies, 150-153, 160. 

Provincial period, in the history of Mas¬ 
sachusetts, 154. 

Public lands, surveys of, 81-85. 

Qualifications for office, 167. 

Quarter Sessions, Court of, 52, 53, 61. 

Quincy, J., 102. 

Railroads, 13. 

Ramage, B. J., 72-98. 

Range-lines, 82, 88. 

Rappahannock river, 141. 

Rate of taxation, 28, 29, 34. 

Reade, C., 1. 

Real estate, taxation of, 25-28, 45. 

Recorders, 111. 

Records, 20, 53, 63, 122. 

Reelection of town officers, 32. 

Reeves, 36, 40, 41. 

Referendum , 196. 

Register of deeds, 55 ; of probate, 55. 

Regulating Act, 158. 

“ Regulators ” on the Carolina fron¬ 
tiers, 72. 

Representation, 40-43, 46, 50, 61, 73, 77, 
110, 146, 154. 

Representatives, House of, state, 165; 
federal, 212-221, 244. 

Republican colonies, 153. 

Republican parties, 259, 260. 

Requisitions, 210. 

Reservations of land for schools, 86. 

Responsibility of public officials, 32, 34, 
116, 125-132, 171. 

Restricting the suffrage, 133-135; in 
the early history of Massachusetts, 
148. 

Revolution, American, 2, 7,11-14,31, 66, 
77, 109, 112, 142, 158, 160-166, 203- 
208, 258 ; English, 149, 157 ; French. 

2, 11, 13, 14, 174. 

Rea-, 225. 



INDEX. 


359 


Rhode Island, 74, 143, 149,153,159,163, 
25G. ’ ’ 

Rivers in Virginia, 58. 

Roads, 2, 3, 20, 21, 53, G3, 78, 101. 
Robbery and taxation, 8, 9, 12. 

Roberts, E. H., 185. 

Romans, 34, 75, 76, 125, 164, 225; de¬ 
veloped the idea of contract, 188. 
Roosevelt, T., 277. 

“ Rotation in office,” 32, 262-264. 
Rousseau, J. J., 188. 

Royal colonies, 153. 

Royce, J., 186. 

Roxbury, 22. 

Runnymede, 189. 

Rupert, W. W., 273. 

Russell, B., 217. 

Russia, 5, 42, 43. 

Sabbath-breakers, 38. 

Safeguards against unbridled democ¬ 
racy, 169. 

St. Augustine, Fla., 140. 

St. Lawrence river, 140. 

St. Louis, Mo., 84, 116, 139. 

Salaries of clergymen in early times in 
Massachusetts, 46; in Virginia, 60. 
Salem, Mass, 146. 

Salem, Oregon, 145. 

San Francisco, 116, 139. 

Sanitary problems, 122. 

Santa F£, 140. 

Sato, Shoshuke, 98. 

Scandinavians, 35. 

School-district as incipient township, 
74, 87-89, 93-96. 

Schools, public, 2, 13, 18, 22, 23, 44, 72, 
86, 93-96; commissioners, 73; com¬ 
mittees, 22-24, 45, 123; superinten¬ 
dent, 23 ; teachers, 23, 45. 

Schouler, J., 239, 275. 

Schurz, C., 277. 

Scotch, 72. 

Scotland’s connection with England, 
156. 

Scrutin d'arrondissement, etc., 218. 
Scudder, H. E., 185. 

Sealers of weights and measures, 23, 24, 
33. 

Secretary of state, 237; of the treasury, 
239. 

Sections of townships, 85. 

Seebohm, F., 47. 

Selectmen, 6, 20, 21, 24, 31-34, 38, 59,79. 
Self-government in the United States, 
172; contrasted with centralization 
in France, 173, 174. 

Semi-royal colony of Massachusetts, 
154. 

Senate, in South Carolina, 73; federal, 
214-218, 234 ; origin of, 164. 
Seneschals, 75. 

Sentiment of union, 208. 

Sewerage, 20. 

Sextons, 60. 

Shaler, N. S., 186. 

Shaw, A., 90, 98, 139. 

Shepard, E. M., 277. 

Sheriffs, in England, 50, 106 ; in Massa¬ 
chusetts, 56; in Virginia, 63, 67; in 


South Carolina, 72, 73 ; in Pennsylva¬ 
nia, 78 ; in New York (city), 111. 

Ship of state, 5. 

Shire, origin of, 49, 50. 

Shiremotes, 40, 43, 50-52, 54. 

Shire-reeve, 50. 

Shire towns, 54, 62. 

Shrines, 37. 

Simon of Montfort, 40, 110, 115. 

Skeat, W. W., 51. 

Slavery, 58, 90, 177, 253, 255. 

Small, A. W., 272. 

Smith, Toulmin, 47, 139, 274. 

Snow, M. S., 139. 

Social contract, theory of, 188. 

Social position of early settlers, 18, 33. 
59. 1 

Socrates, 34. 

Solicitor-general, 240. 

South Carolina, 62, 71, 72, 74, 80, 94, 
144, 153, 228, 247, 255. 

South Saxons, 49. 

Southampton, 106. 

Spanish claims to North America, 140, 
159. 

Spartans, 9. 

Speaker, 220. 

Speculation, 134. 

Spencer, D. E., 98. 

Spencer, Herbert, 274. 

“ Spoils system,” 135, 261-264. 

Spring, L. W., 186. 

Staatenbund , 244. 

Stamp Act, 203. 

Stanwood, E., 232, 275. 

States, 25; greatness of their retained 
powers, 175-177; limits to the same, 
175 ; governments, 166-184; not fit to 
take care of cities, 127-129; legisla¬ 
tures, 164; senates, 164; governors, 
169-171; executive officers, 170; 
courts, 177-184. 

States General in France, 161. 

Stephens, H. M., 14. 

Stevens, J. A., 277. 

Stewards, 36, 76. 

Stray animals, 23. 

Streets, 3, 101 ; in Philadelphia, 83, 84 ; 
commissioners, 116; lights, 113. 

Stubbs, W., 139, 200, 273. 

Stump speeches, 66. 

Stuart, G., 217. 

Suffrage, universal, 97, 133-135, 137, 
138, 166, 173. 

Suffolk, Eng., 49. 

Suffolk, Mass., 53. 

Sumner, W. G., 263, 277. 

Superintendents of schools, 23; of edu¬ 
cation (in states), 170; of streets, 
122 . 

Supervisors, in New York, 79; in Illi¬ 
nois and Michigan, 92. 

Surveyors of highways, 23, 38, 63, 77- 
79, 87 ; of lumber, 23, 24, 33. 

Surveys of public lands, 81-85. 

Sussex, 49. 

Sweden’s connection with Norway, 156. 

Swedes in Delaware, 144. 

Swiss Referendum , 196. 

Syracusan war, 34. 





860 


INDEX . 


Taine, H. A., 14. 

Tariff, 258, 2G0. 

Taswell-Langmead, T. P., 139, 247, 273. 

Taussig, F. W., 277. 

Taxation essential to the existence of 
government, 7 ; involved in reserva¬ 
tion of lands for schools, 86; of the 
American colonies, 156-160; federal, 
257-259. 

Taxes and taxation, 1-15, 25-29, 39, 44, 
63, 120, 127, 131, 151, 210, 257-259. 

Taylor, H., 139, 200, 274. 

Taylor, Z., 231. 

Tea-ships at Boston, 162. 

Tennessee, settlement of, 81. 

Territories and their government, 253. 

Texas, 253. 

Thames river, 108. 

Thermopylae, 9. 

Thorpe, F. N., 239, 272. 

Three fifths compromise, 213. 

Tilden, S. J., 228. 

Tintoretto, 101. 

Tithing-men, 36, 38, 45. 

Tobacco, 57, 60, 63. 

Tobacco-viewers, 77. 

Tocqueville, A. de, 15, 272. 

Tower of London, 108. 

Town, different senses in which the 
word is used, 102-104; clerk, 20; 
treasurer, 21, 33 ; pumps, 113. 

Town-meetings, in New England, 19,24, 
30, 31, 33, 34, 44, 162 ; in Boston, 31, 
101; in New York (state), 79, 80 ; in 
ancient England, 36-43; in Greece 
and Rome, 34; in Russia, 42; vitality 
of, 91, 96, 97 ; prohibited by Regulat¬ 
ing Act, 158. 

Townshend Acts, 203. 

Township in New England, 16-34, 41, 
77 ; its origin, 38 ; Jefferson’s opinion 
of, 65; in the West, 83-98; in Mich¬ 
igan, 89; in Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, 
Missouri, and Kansas, 92. 

Township lines, 82, 88. 

Traill, H. D., 273. 

Treasurers, town, 21, 33; county, 55, 
63, 7f ; city, 111 ; state, 73, 169. 

Treasury of the United States, 239. 

Treaties, 234. 

Trenton, 206. 

Trial justices, 56, 73. 

Trustees of western townships, 92. 

Tun, 35, 43, 45. 

Tungemot , 36. 

Tweed Ring, 129. 

Tyler, J., 260. 

Tyler, M. C., 217, 277. 

Undervaluation of property, 29, 34. 

Unit of representation, in England, 41 ; 
in New England, 41; in Virginia, 61 ; 
in South Carolina, 71; in Maryland, 
77 ; in Pennsylvania, 78. 

Vane, Sir H., 191. 

Variety, wholesome and instructive, in 


development of local institutions iri 
the United States, 93, 179. 

Vermont, 94. 

Verrazano, G. de, 140. 

Versailles, 9. 

Vestry-meetings, in England, 37, 43; in 
Virginia, 59, 60; in South Carolina, 
71. 

Veto, mayor’s, 117,125,127 ; governor’s, 
165, 169, 171; president’s, 222; king’s, 
165, 222. 

Vice-president, 220. 

Villages, in New England, 18; ancient, 
35 ; Indian, 35 ; Russian, 42. 

Virginia, 90, 195, 213, 253, 255; settle¬ 
ment of, 57-61, 67 ; hundreds in, 77 ; 
shire towns in, 62, 67 ; size of counties 
in, 74; representative government in, 
145, 155, 159. 

Voting as a substitute for fighting, 95. 

Walpole, S., 273. 

War depai'tment, 240. 

“War governors,” 110. 

Wargs of a city, 105, 103, 111. 

Warrant for town-meeting, 24, 33, 43. 
Washington. G., 67, 119, 209, 229, 231, 
232, 234, 235, 258, 263. 

Washington, D. C., 84, 139. 

Washington (state), 93. 

Washtenaw county, Mich., 84. 
Water-works, 121. 

Watertown, Mass., 17. 

Way-wardens, 38. 

Weighers, 123. 

West Saxons, 50. 

V/est Virginia, shire towns in, 62. 
Westward movement of population, 81. 
Wethersfield, Conn., 192. 

Whig party, 259, 263. 

Whiskey insurrection, 258. 

White House, 2'"0. 

“ White trash,” 59. 

Wigmore, J. H., 277. 

Wilhelm, W., 98. 

William the Conqueror, 106. 

William III., 190. 

Wills, 55. 69. 

Wilson, A. J., 273. 

Wilson, W., 176, 178, 196, 251, 273. 
Windsor, Conn., 192. 

Winsor, J., 139, 185, 218. 

Wisconsin, 81, 93, 95, 253. 

Woman suffrage, 94, 95. 

Women on bool committees, 95; rep 
resentation of, 46, 94. 

Woolsey, T. D., 277. 

Worcester county, Mass., 62. 

Wreckage, 51. 

Wyoming (state), 93-95. 

York, 106. 

Yorktown, 258. 

Zones into which North America was 
divided by royal grants of 1606,141-* 
145, 159. 










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